Broken Destiny
by SSJ4girlfan725
Summary: Serenity has had a tough life, what with losing her parents when she was very young, but she has taken it and made the best of it. However the world isn't done throwing twists into her life yet. What will she do next?
1. Chapter 1: Legend

**Author's Notes**

Ok, yeah, I'm back. I know, I know, I'm tired of hearing from me as well considering the fact that I can't seem to get more then two freaking chapters of a story up even though I say that I'm going to. I swear I don't mean to, it's just that I get the story in my head and then I get the first part down and POOF! It's gone! Just like that and I can't finish it, either that or I get bored with it for some reason and I just move on to another story that is really good but I don't write it down. _**–sigh-**_ I can't promise that this one'll get farther than the first two but I have faith that it will, I've taken measures to make sure that it'll get farther then the others, maybe. Feel free to send me angry messages if I don't keep this promise _( actually, and this is only for this time, I encourage people to send angry messages and reviews. Maybe that'll get me to finish it, but only this once, and please wait at least 2 weeks, THEN send the messages)_ Okay, enough of my blabbering, here's the story oh and some of the _"measures"_ that I've taken are that I went and looked up some things for the story, make it more interesting so if you see anything that is familiar and makes you think "Hey! I've seen that somewhere else!" like some of the names, that's all part of the _"looking up things" _part, so here's a disclaimer: I do not own any of the things in this story that may seem familiar to any of you anime watchers out there including names, techniques, moves, words, etc. Okay, now that that's done. Here it is.

_**Character thoughts, dreams, and flashbacks_

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Chapter One: Legend

_Screams in background, people running this way and that, buildings blazing, armies of creatures rampage through the small town of Sine._

"_Mommy?! Daddy?! What's happening, why are the buildings on fire?"_

"_There's no time for questions sweetheart, just keep running and don't let go of me or daddy"_

"_But why? And what are those creatures doing to our homes and our friends?"_

_Crash! A house collapses and reveals a group of the creatures that spy the three helpless humans running for their life, they begin to chase them._

"_Daddy! Wait! What are you doing?! Mommy! We have to go back and get daddy!"_

"_Layle, take our daughter and keep running, try to find a safe place to hide! I'll stay back and try to hold them off for a little bit!"_

_Crash! Another house collapses, blocking their way. They are surrounded by the creatures now, the creatures pause for a moment. Then they attack, viciously and without mercy, the mother and father try desperately to protect their daughter._

"_Erin! Watch out! You evil creatures will never get to our daughter, I swear it on my and my beloved Erin's lives!"_

_The mother and father fall, dead, to the ground and the creatures begin to advance on the girl. Boom! A bright white light engulfs the creatures , the man and woman, and the girl._

"_Mommy! Daddy! NO!!!"_

_Blackout............._

"NOOOO!" Serenity bolts upright, snapping violently out of the dream, screaming at the top of her lungs but soon stops and slumps over panting. "-huff huff- No, not that dream again, why must all my nightmares be that **ONE** dream? It was twelve years ago, but it still seems so vivid." She mutters to herself trailing off. "-sigh- Whatever, it's nearly daybreak anyway so I should be getting a move on already. Lithe! Sirus! Where are you two?" after she says this two shapes descend from the overhead tree, one lands gracefully on her out-stretched wrist and the other on her shoulder. "Good morning Lithe, how are you today?" The Peregrine falcon on her wrist snaps its beak and gives a small squawk in response. "Well that's good to hear, how about you Sirus, my friend?" The Eagle hawk on her shoulder gives a similar response. "Ah! Very good! So what do you say we get going for today? If we don't start now we'll never make it in time for the dusk and you know as well as I the dangers that lurk in the shadows after the sun has set." Both birds take flight from her and fly high into the sky to spot ahead for possible early morning dangers. _"I don't know what I'd do without those two. Actually, I do know what would happen, I'd be dead." _She gave a short laugh and smiled as she proceeded on into the underbrush that was the western side of the Diqui valley.

_**The Legend of Shinma**_

In the days of old, before The Great Divide, the days long since forgotten by the present world of man, the world was a single land called, Shinma ,by its inhabitants. In this time there was a group of beings known as The Council, they watched over this land and its people and creatures keeping peace and balance. It was composed of the Seven Guardians and the High Council. The Seven Guardians were Ankoku, Guardian of Darkness and elder brother of the twins of light Hikari and Akari. Tsuchi, Guardian of Earth and Plants and stepbrother to Hyou, the Guardian of Ice. Seika, Guardian of Fire who was wedded to Mizu, the Guardian of Water and fathered Tsuchi. Sora, Guardian of Air and Wind, he was the lover of Mizu and fathered her second child, Hyou. The High Council was of two brothers, Arrancar, leader of the Seven Guardians and elder brother of Lord Sesshomaru. He was the keeper of the Eien Suishou, the Eternity Crystal, which was the source of balance and harmony for Shinma. With the crystal he was able to do things that were beyond imagining. Sesshomaru was the commander of The Council's army which helped protect the people and creatures who lived in Shinma against the evil that would invade the land from time to time, for without both good and evil, a world would become unbalanced and die.

It was in this time, the time of The Council, that Shinma was at the peak of its glory and everything was as it should be. However this did not last as the event called The Great Divide in many myths and folklore, shattered its unified existence. Shinma was divided into seven areas a time after his younger brother Sesshomaru, who had always been jealous of his older brother's power, had finally devised a means of taking it for himself and had imprisoned Arrancar within the Eien Suishou. But to keep his brother trapped inside the crystal, it had to be broken apart into several different pieces. After discovering had taken place, the Seven Guardians each took one of the pieces and fled to different parts of Shinma in order to keep the pieces from being destroyed by Sesshomaru which he had planned to do to permanently erase his brother's existence. Unfortunately, before they had a chance to find a safe spot to reassemble the broken pieces of the Eien Suishou, Sesshomaru tracked down and killed Ankoku taking his shard of the crystal. In doing this, he destroyed the plans of the Guardians to put the Eien Suishou back together and free Arrancar. Instead of destroying the shard, which he had at first planned to do, he decided to keep it since he knew that even if all of the remaining Guardians worked together, they would be no match for him. Much to their dismay, the Guardians also knew this to be true and that the only one who could ever hope to defeat Sesshomaru was his older brother, Arrancar who was trapped in the crystal fragments. The Guardians held one final meeting in the name of The Council and decided that the best thing to do, even though they all opposed this plan most vehemently, was to take each of their pieces and go to far away corners of Shinma and wait, what for, they did not know, but they waited.

Eventually the Guardians faded into the lands in which they hid, causing The Great Divide. On that day the ground shook and split open revealing the very center of the planet for what seemed like an eternity and then, with such colossal force as to crush the very foundations of life, the broken pieces of earth rammed back into each other sending up enormous mountains that seemed to reach for the sky, clawing at it like angry black demons trying to escape the fiery pits of Hell itself. When all had cleared and the earth had ceased to writhe and scream, Shinma had been divided into seven parts by the mountains. Each part, a symbol of the Guardian that remained hidden there sleeping and protecting the shard they had taken with them except for Ankoku. The place where Tsuchi lay came to be known as Diqui Valley and it was here that the humans and creatures best suited to live here were. To the north, where Hyou slept became Bing Glacier, to the south of Diqui was Huo Crater, where Seika was, to the west was the Shui Sea, place of Mizu and to the east was Guang Plains where the twins had fled to. Sora had come to lay in a place but, in order to provide more protection to the other Guardians, had moved and come to lay in a wide strip of land surrounding the other's places and creating a barrier between them and the Hei An Shadowlands which Sesshomaru had created with the crystal shard he had taken from Ankoku since it had taken on the qualities the darkness. Along with Sesshomaru's new power he took half the planet as his own turning it into a deserted and dark wasteland and Sora's place became the Kaze Void.

Many, many, many years have past since that time, it has been forgotten by man but not by beast or by the Wizards. Those born with powers granted by the Guardians in dreams, they could manipulate whatever element the Guardian could that had given them this gift. They were the ones who protected the humans from the more terrible creatures of Sesshomaru's demonic armies. Their leader was the Great Wizard, Jonin, who was the last known wizard of light and in being this; he was the most powerful of all his kind. One day while meditating in his sanctuary, he had a vision in which he prophesized the coming of the Shingami and the Bakai. The Shingami, born a human but imbued with the powers of the Seven Guardians was destined to reunite the crystal shards and free Arrancar, and the Bakai, also born a human, The Seeker, was destined to have the task of finding the shards and then bringing them to the Shingami. Together they would reunite them into the Eien Suishou thus freeing Arrancar, who would end the evil Lord Sesshomaru's reign of terror and restore peace and balance to the broken and lost Shinma. Since he knew that he could not go and find the Bakai and tell them of this quest, he sent his daughter Saya to find them, who in turn sent her two most trusted companions to find, protect, and guide the Bakai. Of course when Lord Sesshomaru heard of this prophecy, he became both outraged and afraid. Outraged at the thought that anyone would ever dare to think that anyone and a mere human at that could take the shard he had away from him. But afraid that what Jonin had said might come to pass, after all, Jonin's title as the most powerful wizard was not self-titled but a known fact. So he sent his highest-ranking fighters, the Five Sannin, to kidnap Jonin and bring him back to the shadowlands where he killed him with his sword, Shikai, which was the twin of Arrancar's sword, Bankai. When he learned that Jonin had a daughter he sent them after her as well in an attempt to show the Wizards that he would not be defeated and that he was all powerful and could do anything he desired.

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Okay! Man that was long! Sorry about the part where you think that the story's starting but then it goes to a big long rambling thing about things that seem to have little to do with what was going on and just short of cut in all of a sudden. I know that you're probably thinking, "What the heck is she doing?!?" Well I really don't know what I was doing but I did know that I had to give you the background of this place called Shinma sooner or later and I thought that sooner would save some time later when I start talking about stuff from Shinma's past and you people are thinking, "What the heck is she talking about?!" So yeah, sorry, it won't happen again and you'll find out where she's going in the next chapter. So please R&R, thanks! :D


	2. Chapter 2: Lost Memories

**Author's Notes**

Okay, now this calls for some celebration for me –throws a party- Wahoo! I did it! I did it! However I didn't do it alone, I had help from the hate mail senders and also a very special thanks goes out to my friend Alicia whose house I was at this weekend and she helped me with a few ideas that appear in this chapter and others to come. **-sigh-** Okay, some of you will probably remember that last time I said that you would find out where she was going in this chapter, well, there's been a change in that. I'm sorry, I write these things in chapters so what I say might be in the next chapter has a high chance of being in a different chapter all together. So in this chapter you will not be finding out where she is going, sorry. It's because, well I know how this story goes and when I'm thinking through it in my head, I know what all the things I'm talking about but then I remember that you guys don't so I have to fill in the blanks and explain things that I wouldn't in my head so that's why if I say something's going to be in the next chapter, don't believe me till you read the next chapter. Okay, that's done, here's the disclaimer: I do not own any of things in here that might seem familiar to any of you who have seen or read miscellaneous anime or manga series including names, techniques, moves, or words, etc. Okey dokey, done, here it is.

_**Characters 'thoughts', flashbacks, and dreams

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**Chapter 2: Lost Memories**

"I can't believe we made it in time before sunset." Serenity said as she stumbled out of the undergrowth and into the open evening air.

She had a bloody dagger in her left hand and was wiping blood from her lip and nose. She was covered in cuts and bruises that were still pretty fresh. Still staggering, holding her arm, her right eye badly bruised and swollen shut. She wiped more blood out of her good eye, which was dripping down into it from a nasty gash on her brow.

"Feh! Those darned Skrits! I swear they get smarter and smarter every time I fight a group of them." She spit out some blood onto the ground beside her.

"Well at least they're good for two things which makes fighting them not a total waste of my time. I get good training from fighting them and their blood has unrivaled healing capabilities. It hurts like a roundhouse kick to the face but if you can get their blood in the first place, then you can take the pain. Who would of thought that those little buggers had something this precious? If people could get a little spine and fight some of them, then there would be a lot less deaths in my opinion, but that's not my problem." She said breathily through gritted teeth with a weak shrug and winced at once. Taking the blood covered dagger and pressing it into a wound on her forearm, she immediately took a sharp breath in.

"Well guys," she said to Lithe and Sirus who had landed near her on the ground, and were watching her intently. "Looks like your gonna have to do me one more favor." she said with difficulty, trailing off and then fell forward, unconscious, on the ground.

**........**

'_Where am I?' Serenity thought and looked around. There was nothing here, but at the same time, there were so many things here. Both seen, but unseen and lost, but found. At least, she thought so; the whole place was absolutely white and empty, the silence was heavy and it unnerved her so when she heard voices talking quietly but urgently, she jumped and immediately dropped into a fighting stance and began to scan her surroundings for the source._

_After looking around for about a minute, she slowly stood erect, but in a position that she could easily change back into her fighting stance at the slightest sound, she hadn't survived this long in the wild without learning how to fight and defend herself with ruthless precision and to never let her guard down for a second because even the smallest sound could mean death if overlooked._

"_Uh! There they are again, those blasted voices! Where in the world are they __**coming **__from?!" she muttered with gritted teeth as she spun around to face the spot where they seemed to be coming from. As soon as she did this, she again dropped out of fighting stance, but this time, she dropped her guard and just stared at the door that had, as far as she could see, appeared out of nowhere._

"_What the world?! Where did that thing come from?! I looked this place over five times! There's no way I missed that! Hm, I must of passed out and hit my head or something because this place is messed up. Oh well, whatever, if this is a dream or something to that effect, then the worst that can happen is I wake up." She said with a shrug, which she noticed didn't hurt her, and began to open the door. She was half way through it when she commented absently, "Either that or I go into a come and die that way." There was a moment and then a bright yellow light engulfed her and she was gone._

"_Whoa, what is-hey, wait, I know this place, it's, it's, I-I can't remember. But I know this place, I can feel it!" she said shaking her head in frustration with a hand on her forehead, eyes closed. She stopped as soon as she heard the voices again, but they were whispers this time and they were coming from outside the door to her right. She began to look around frantically for a place to hide, it was then that she saw the cot in the corner with a small girl lying on it, deep in sleep and realized that she wasn't alone in the room._

'_Who's that? Wait, no, it can't be! But, it is, it's me, w-what am I doing here? I've never been here before in my life! And yet, it seems so very, __**very **__familiar. It's like a memory that is buried just deep enough that I can't quite touch it.' She thought, frowning. Then the door opened, she spun around and ended up looking a strange, tall woman with bleach white hair, pale skin, and chilling ice-blue eyes in the face, followed by her parents._

"_What is this? Who is she? Why are my parents with her? This is insanity! This has to be some sort of twisted dream because there's no way that this could be real, that nightmare is the last memory that I have of my parents. I don't remember anything about them but that __**one **__memory, and the next one is just me in the endless forest that makes up most of Diqui Valley when I'm 12 or 13. Everything else is either too fuzzy to try and make sense out of or blank. But this is so real, and I'm still so young lying on that cot." She was becoming more and more confused and frustrated._

"_Layle? Erin? Are you two alright?" The pale woman asked, concern seen clearly in her eyes._

"_Yes Saya, we're fine. Thank you for your last-minute intervention. With Serenity there with us, we couldn't do anything more then what we were." Her father said with a sad shrug._

"_Yes, thank you so very much! I know our position at the moment, but I love her more then I could have ever believed possible. I almost broke the oath when those creatures began advancing on her." Her mother said, embracing the woman called Saya, sobbing._

'_Wait a second; this must be right after that weird light came! But, that's impossible; I-I saw my parents get killed by those thins and fall to the ground dead! Then if this is after that, they can't be here talking to that woman or anything like that! This is definitely madness, I've lost my mind, and I'm leaving! Now where's that blasted door?' Serenity thought in frustration and started for the door, very annoyed. She had no intention of listening to, or watching this madness any longer. But when she tried to go to the door, she couldn't move, she tried with all her might to walk to the door but her legs and feet wouldn't move. "What the heck?! Why can't I move?! I want to leave, I don't want to hear or see anymore!" She yelled out loud, putting her hands over her ears and closing her eyes, but it didn't work, she could still hear and see them. "Be quiet! Just be quiet!" But they still continued to talk, and nothing she did seemed to affect them at all._

"_I know, Layle, I know." Saya said, nodding and patting her mother gently on the back. "So how is she? Is she badly injured?" She asked turning toward the cot in the corner where Serenity was lying, asleep._

"_She's just fine, Elizabeth of the Earth clan and Cheyenne of the Water clan have already come and attended to her injuries though they were very few and could barely be called injuries in the first place." Her mother said going and sitting on the edge of the cot and stroking Chibi-Serenity's hair lovingly._

"_She's tough, I'll tell you that much. She'll definitely be a fighter when she gets older." Erin, Serenity's father, said to Saya, his arms crossed and a crooked but proud smile on his face._

"_I agree, to survive some of the blows she must have gotten from those things, she would have to be." Saya replied to him._

"_By the way, what were those things anyway? I've never seen anything like them before." He asked, walking to stand and stare out the window closest to him._

"_From what Madison and Samantha of the Earth clan can tell, they seem to be a new breed of Roth, since we have been able to dispatch the older versions more and more easily." Saya said, going to sit at the desk by the door and pulling a book off the shelf to the right of the desk._

"_Blast that demon who calls himself a divine being!" her father said forcefully through gritted teeth, slamming his fist on the wall by the window, his eyes blazing with pure malice. A slight breeze seemed to come out of nowhere, growing in force, almost blew out the candles in the simple iron chandelier hanging above their heads._

"_Easy Erin, just calm down, deep breaths. You don't want to lose it and risk waking up or hurting little Seri." Layle said soothingly, getting up carefully from the cot and going over to put a calming, yet restraining, hand on her husband's shoulder._

"_Layle's right Erin, you took an oath that Serenity would never find out about either of you. Don't break it now." Saya said in a soft voice, her ice-blue eyes willing him to calm down. Erin took a deep breath; the wind slowly subsides as he turns away from the window, his hands still curled tightly into fists._

"_-sigh- I'm sorry, it's just that when I think of Him I get so angry and forget about everything else." He said, his face falling as he said this._

"_Yes, I'm quite aware of your little rampages." Saya said letting out a short laugh. "Honestly, I think that you would have been better off born of the Fire clan, not the Wind, your personality suits it better, but I guess that's from your mother then since you were granted Wind from your father and Sora. But I agree, Lord Sesshomaru does throw many annoying things at us" she said, growing serious" as well as the thought of him causing the blood of any Wizard to boil with what he did to the ones who granted us these precious gifts." She set the book aside, seeming to no longer have any interest in what it said and creating a ball of ice in her hand that she began to fiddle with absently. " But that doesn't matter right now. What matters is what is to become of Serenity?" Saya said, looking over at the sleeping child._

"_What do you mean 'what is to become of Serenity'?" Layle asked, suddenly very worried still standing over by Erin with her hand still on his shoulder._

"_Erin, Layle, just try to stay calm, I know how you feel about Serenity but she will have to be sent away and trained." She said standing up, her hands were up like she was trying to hold back their responses; the ball of ice had vanished from where she had laid it on the desk._

"_What?! But Saya, please, she's too young to be alone, she needs her parents to take care of her still!" Erin said, taking a step forward and to the left so that he was between Saya and the cot, panic and determination on his face._

"_It can't be avoided Erin, for two reasons. One, you said yourself that she's a fighter, and two, she just saw her mother and father murdered in front of her. If she wakes up and sees you two standing here alive and well, what's she going to think? What do you think that'll do to her, hm?" Saya said in a ridiculing tone, frowning and pointing at the both of them, her eyes as cold as the Ice element she controlled. "I'm sorry both of you, so very, __**very **__sorry. You are two of my closest most trusted friends and to have to tell you this is equally painful for me but it's necessary, for your and Serenity's sake." She said, her face full of pain and sadness and her eyes softening from their previous hard, coldness to emotions that were mirrors of what her face showed._

"_My poor, poor Seri!" Layle cried, falling to her knees by the cot, heaving with her sobbing into the covers on it. Erin stood behind her, his hands soothingly rubbing her shoulders; tears falling silently down his face. Saya walked over and placed a hand on his shoulder._

"_Please Saya, I know that you can't ignore the rules if I asked you to just because we're childhood friends but please, please, if you can, make it painless for her, please?" his voice was quiet and he never took his eyes off of Chibi-Serenity's sleeping form._

"_I am able to promise that. Her memories will have to be temporarily altered so that she can be trained since there seems to be a concerning amount of interest in her by the Raveners, which are generally very stupid but very obedient creatures and they attacked her and her parents soon after she was born with no order what so ever. You two may be in charge of her training if you wish" she said as quietly as he had "and then when that is done, they will be returned to normal and suppressed. I will see to that personally."_

"_I will train her and I'll be there with her when her memories are suppressed." Layle said through sobs into the covers. She looked up at Erin with a red face and swollen eyes, her face a mask of deepest sorrow._

"_I will as well." Erin said in turn, his voice cracking from his own tears. They both turned to look at Saya. Her face became serious and when she spoke her voice was full of authority._

"_Very well. Then as Saya of the Ice clan, only daughter of our leader Jonin and without my mother being in this world, it is my duty to oversee and authorize the activities of each of the clans, Earth, Fire, Ice, Wind, and Water, and their members. With this, I charge you, Erin and Layle of the Wind clan, with the duty of overseeing the training of the child Serenity Sarah Crest, until the time when it is deemed that she is able to survive on her own in the Valley and her memories suppressed. Do you accept this charge?" she said in the customary tone of giving an order._

"_We do take this charge and swear it on the name of Arrancar." They said in unison, reciting the oath to reinforce their commitment, their faces solemn in doing this._

"_Then it is done, her training will begin tomorrow and her memories have already been altered." Saya replied in an equally solemn tone and she turned to leave. She paused in the door way just before she left and said, with her back to them "Cherish her while you can, I have a feeling that she is more precious than we could ever understand." Then she closed the door and left._

"_No! I don't want to be here! I don't want to hear or see anymore of this nonsense!" Serenity yelled, finally managing to break free of the trance-like state she had been in. "This isn't true, they're gone! They're not here anymore! I saw them die; they can't be here! I've watched them die over, and over, and __**over **__in that nightmare millions of times!! It's a lie!! They're dead!! DEAD!!!" She began screaming at the top of her lungs, putting her hands back over her ears and closing her eyes. She was shaking her head back and forth violently. "Let me out! Let me out!" she cried, tears streaming down her face now, this was too much for her and she was finally crying for all those other times that she had held them back as well. "I want out." She said, hoarsely, from all her yelling. Then there was nothing, everything had gone completely black this time. She took a step forward and fell off an invisible edge and was spinning, spinning and falling. Farther, faster, out of control, she flailed, her hands darting this way and that, tying to find something, anything, to grab onto to stop her fall but there was nothing. The she hit bottom and everything stopped.

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_Okey dokey, that's number two, yay! Amazingly enough, I can't think of anything to write here so that's all and please R&R thanx! :D_


	3. Chapter 3: Home Or Something Like It

**Author's Notes**

Okay, here's the third chapter, yay! I'm actually really proud of myself, I don't think that I've stuck with a story that I've been writing down this long. Usually the same thing that's happened to the other ones on here has happened but I guess it's different with this one, I'm prepared and ready for this one, and I really like this one. :D Okay, just a heads up, when I try to describe Serenity later in the chapter, for those of you who know what the Gym Leader Gardenia in the pokemon Pearl, Diamond, and now Platinum games looks like, then that's sort of how her hair looks, but flatter on the sides, for those who don't, well, then, I'll try my best to describe it. Now, enough talk, here's the disclaimer: I do not own any of things in here that might seem familiar to any of you who have seen or read miscellaneous anime or manga series including names, techniques, moves, or words, etc. Okay, here's the third chapter, enjoy!

_**Characters 'thoughts', flashbacks, and dreams_

**Chapter 3: Home (Or Something Like It)**

'_Ugh! My head! That's definitely one of the more __**unpleasant **__Skrit blood healing sessions, talk about a roundhouse to the face!' _Serenity thought, rubbing her head, annoyed. _'Where am I anyway? This doesn't feel like the ground and I don't hear any of the regular forest sounds. I should probably check out where I am, but I don't feel like opening my eyes just yet.' _She thought mildly, still feeling the after effects of the blood which, amusingly enough, felt much like having a hangover on the mornings after her rare visits to miscellaneous towns around the valley. _'Well, this is different; I don't think that I've ever had this happen to me after using the Skrit blood. Hm_, _perhaps I should have left the fight a little earlier then I did? I __**was **__fighting a much larger group of them __**and **__I stayed and fought a little, okay, a __**lot **__longer then I usually do, maybe I got stung too much and the poison that's in their blood just pushed me over the edge. I do have a very, __**very**__ high pain thresh hold, but I know it and I've never gone beyond it that far before.' _She began rubbing her face to try and snap out of the haze she was in while thinking on this subject. Then she abruptly smacked herself in the face. _'__**Unless **__I have that darned __**dream**__! Duh! How could I have forgotten that? I always push myself too far after I have that dream. Oh well, I guess it's to be expected, I've had to live my life in the harshest of the forest, showing that kind of fear and weakness is exactly the ticket to get oneself killed. Heh! Self-punishment and correction, I'm more messed up then I thought' _She thought with a smirk while pinching the bridge of her nose and squeezing her eyes shut. That's when she heard a small noise coming from her left, her eyes snapped open and she bolted upright, looking around to see where it had come from. She swayed slightly but shook off the confusion and dizziness quickly; she looked around again and saw that she was in a small room with tan walls and a rather low ceiling.

There was a window in the wall to her right, a dresser sitting under it; a door in front of her and she was sitting on a bed with a table next to it with various bottles and other things on it that she didn't know or care to know what they were or were for. There was a painting on the wall to her left that caught her eye; it was a drawing, she thought, of two young children, a boy and a girl, sitting on some large stones by a small stream and playing in the water trying to catch the fish that were swimming in it, outlined by a beautifully carved deep brown wood frame. The boy had messy, dirty blonde hair that went down to about the bottom of his ear and a cherub-like, round face with emerald green eyes and a laughing, dimpled smile looking out of it at the girl. The girl had long, shoulder length, brown hair with a delicate, angelic face; light brown eyes, shining with laughter, looking at the surface of the stream farther in front of where she was sitting. This struck Serenity deeply, especially the boy, he looked familiar, well, at least the way he was drawn looked familiar and she got up from the bed to get a closer look at the drawing. It was definitely a drawing, the detail made it look like a picture that had been taken out of a memory; even sitting on the bed had given it this effect. But the detail and the obvious care that had been put into it is what pulled her in and held her.

'_Why in the world would someone put this much effort into and waste this much energy on such a, such a-a __**thing**__?' _It made no sense to her and as she was there, standing in front of it and frowning deeply at it, something in the back of her memory jumped. It was much like the feeling she had gotten just before plunging into the twisted dream she had had just a few minutes before and this greatly disturbed her so she tore herself away from the drawing. She began to inspect the room further when the door opened to reveal a rather tall, middle-aged woman with long sandy colored hair tied back in a bun and green eyes, carrying a wooden tray. Serenity whipped around with lightening fast speed, drawing one of her hidden throwing daggers in the process, throwing it at the woman's throat, the woman just barely dodged it and it hit the wall to the right of her head. Serenity immediately drew another, longer dagger, pointing it strait at the terrified woman's throat, about to throw a second time but stopped and just held it there, poised to deal another blow and this time, she wouldn't miss.

"Who the heck are you and where the hell am I?!" Serenity demanded in a fierce and threatening tone, her eyes narrowed and calculating. The woman just stood there, frozen in, what Serenity guessed, a mixture of fear and shock.

She wasn't surprised; this was exactly the same reaction that she got anywhere she went and someone, usually an innkeeper, startled her by doing something as simple as entering her room to change the sheets of something like that, unannounced and she held a dagger or other sharp item she had with her at their throat, she had lived with the dangers of the Valley surrounding her too long and that was why she rarely entered them. That and the fact that even if she didn't do that to a person, she still had people looking at her weird, not so much scared or shocked, but various strange looks from mostly men unless she went into the towns during the day and then she got them from both men and women. She was taller then most women, about 5'11", she had short dark brown hair with a few strands in the front that went down to her chin which she usually had tucked back behind her ears. Her face was thin, but healthy, with smooth tanned skin and her mouth in the usual hard line. But what got most people, if she didn't talk to them, was her eyes and how she dressed, her eyes were an amber color, not something that she had ever seen before and she dressed in a white, linen male's shirt with the sleeves torn off and edges ragged from the traveling through thorns and getting in fights, they revealed her lean, tanned arms covered in various scars, some newer then others. She wore long pants, held with a wide belt, that had rips and tears here and there in them for the same reason as her shirt and men's boots, she also had a jacket with all her miscellaneous weapons and other things for and from her travels which she noticed was hanging on the end of the bed farthest from her. If she did talk to them, or went and drank at the tavern, it was her personality that got them, she could drink more then any man there, best any of them at competitions of strength, speed, or stamina and her attitude was serious even if she'd had a few too many, which usually happened, and was colder then ice, her expression was always either hard, fierce, or in a smirk.

"I'll ask you one more time and this time I want an answer immediately," she said, moving the dagger menacingly towards the woman's throat "who are you and where am I?"

"M-My name is Darla," she managed to get out quietly. Serenity could have sworn that she could hear her heart pounding. "A-And t-this is my house, w-we're in the town of C-Cline. M-My son, William, found you unconscious on the ground just inside the t-town boundary while bird hunting; h-he spotted a hawk and t-tried to hit it, but it dodged, so he f-followed it and it led him strait to you. H-He said that you were pretty badly m-messed up and looked like you had just barely gotten out of a S-Skrit attack, but by the time he got you back here, th-there was almost n-no injuries left." She said, stuttering the whole time, still looking visibly shaken from the earlier incident. Serenity smirked at this and put her dagger back in its place.

"That's because that hawk is one of my traveling companions and also, I **had **just come out of a Skrit **fight**, and that's why I looked like that. Those darned things always seem to track me down where ever I go so I just keep fighting them." She said rather indifferently walking over and pulling her other dagger out of the wall, the woman jerked back when she did this, not knowing if she was going to throw it at her again. "As for the injuries, Skrit blood has great healing capabilities," she slid the dagger back into the spot by the other on her belt, still smirking "so it's a win-win for me, I get to take some of those suckers out, get extra training, and then get a free healing afterwards, keeping in mind that the blood hurts like hell through the process of healing."

"O-Oh, wait, you mean you were actually **fighting** those things?! B-But, that's insanity, those things are vicious creatures who've killed larger men than you and in groups of 4 or 5 at that." She said, the shock leaving her face and being replaced by concern, which caught Serenity off guard, she wasn't used to having people show her anything but either fear or suspicion.

But she soon recovered and retaliated in a sharp tone back to Darla, "You may think that you're just showing concern for my well being by saying that but I take it as an insult." Serenity was pointing at her accusingly, her eyes narrowed and blazing. "I've lived in, survived in, and explored the **deepest** and most **dangerous** places in this whole dang Valley! I've been fighting those heathen creatures for most of my life! I know what I'm doing and I don't need anything or anyone to be worrying about me or my business, so stay out of it!!" She was really close and all but snarling this in Darla's face while she towered over her and stared her almost down into the floor beneath their feet. _'I __**don't**__ need her! I __**don't**__ need my parents!' _she thought back to the dream with the room and person named Saya, _'and I certainly __**didn't **__need that __**boy **__to come and help me when I was unconscious, I would have been __**fine**__, I always have been, even when I'm __**not**__ in the town boundaries! I __**don't **__need anyone at all! I wish they would all just __**leave me alone**__ and stop trying to always __**help**__!' _she thought viciously, each word dripping with poison and contempt.

"Uh, I-I'm s-sorry, I d-didn't m-mean to o-offend y-you. P-Please forgive my error of j-judgment." She said the fear coming back in force and erasing all traces of the motherly concern she had shown earlier. "S-So, um, w-what might y-your n-name b-be?" she asked, still stuttering, but looking genuinely curious.

"Why do you care?" Serenity snapped in response.

"I j-just thought that i-it m-might b-be nice to know sh-should y-you be staying a w-while here in C-Cline." Darla responded in the same way as before only in a much more quiet voice.

"Well I don't plan on being here very long, I thought that maybe I would find something here, but I see that I was wrong." Serenity said in an almost depressed tone, walking over and taking her jacket off the bedpost and turning back to face Darla. "But I guess if I tell you my name, it won't matter because I'll probably never come back to this town in a short enough time that you'll ever remember me, maybe." She pulled on her jacket and opened the window, letting in a cool breeze that felt good against her face after being in this house so long. '_I'm not made for living or staying in houses, they're too small, I always feel like I'm being caged in or squished when I'm in one.' _She thought mildly while she took a deep breath in with her eyes closed. "My name is Serenity Crest, don't bother remembering it, it doesn't matter to you." And she jumped out the window, falling right down from the second story and making a perfect landing. _'Heh, that was fun, I heard her startled cry and everything, I think that I've done a good days work in the town and now I take my leave.'_

"Wait! Serenity!" Darla called from the second story window.

'_There's no way I'm coming back woman, I'm made for the forest, not to be worried over and live in a house.' _ She took one look back over her shoulder while running and saw Darla leaning out the window after her.

"I see that you're up and kicking. Heh! Well, that would explain mom's expression." a voice said from right in front of her. She turned and stopped just in time to keep from running into a young man who had appeared out of nowhere.

"Who the heck are you?!" Serenity asked, scrutinizing him. He was as tall as her, if not slightly taller with tan skin and a medium build. He had short, dirty blonde hair, emerald eyes and he was wearing a simple white shirt and brown pants with work boots. The shirt was rather loose, the top part untied as far as it would go, exposing his chest and from the expression on his face, she could tell that he was full of himself and probably did this on purpose to get the girls in towns attention. It however had no effect on her and only made her dislike him even more than she already did at the moment. "Well?" she asked impatiently.

"My name is William Jay Millin, at your service." He said with a dimpled smile, a wink, and a very low, dramatic bow.

"That's nice, I don't really care. Now move before you get hurt." She said shortly and shoved him out of her way, forcefully.

"Now, now," he said, grabbing her wrist as she went past. "That's no way to treat the guy who saved your life, I at least deserve a thank you, so how about a kiss?" he smiled and puckered up, pulling her towards him.

"I don't think so, I didn't need **your **help in the first place, now let go." She tried to pull away but he held firm.

"Come on sweetheart, its just a little kiss, that's not too much to ask is it?" He replied back, looking innocent.

'_....__**Sweetheart.....' **_Her eye twitched and she stopped trying to pull away.

**-SMACK!-** "What the-? OOF!" **-THUD!-**

"Don't you **ever **call me _sweetheart _**ever**!! GOT IT?!?" She hissed venomously in his ear. After hearing him call her sweetheart she had lost it and had punched him as hard as she could and then flipped him making him land hard on his stomach with his arm twisted around and up where she was kneeling on it and his back at the same time. "Well?!?"

"OW! OW! OW! Okay, okay! I got it!"

"Good, and also, if you touch me again, I'll make sure to dislocate your arm." Serenity snarled at him, getting off his back and yanking him up to standing position by his neck, and then turning to leave.

"Ouch! Gosh woman, you sure know how to get your point across if you didn't like something." William said, rubbing his shoulder and moving it around. "What's your name anyway? I don't think that I've ever seen you around here before." He said turning around to face her.

"Serenity!! Wait, please!" Darla came running towards the both of them, looking a little wild.

"Huh? Wait, Serenity? Serenity _Crest?!_" William said, looking thoroughly startled by the name.

"Yeah, why do you care?" Serenity said over her shoulder as she was walking away.

"Serri-san!" William yelled and ran over, giving her a huge hug.

"Darn it boy! I said **no touching me**!" she broke out of his hold and twisted his arm around and back, almost making it touch the back of his neck.

"UGH! Wait! Serri! It's me! Will! Don't you remember me? We used to sneak out and play by the stream just outside the town boundaries as kids! Then you and your parents moved to Sine when you were about 6 years old." He was almost yelling this and rushing to get it out as she pulled his arm farther and farther up his back.

"I've never been here before and I don't remember anyone called Will." She said back to him.

"But, wait! Remember the picture in the room that mom had me put you in? I drew that! That was us, by the stream, when we were younger! Remember that I was always drawing you little pictures, and then you thought that it would be cool to use them as secret code messages?" He was yelling now, from the pain in his shoulder. "Like if I sent you a picture of a hill and a half circle, then you would know to meet me on the hill to the east of town at sunset. Remember all that, all the fun times we had?!"

"I don't have any- UGH!" she let go of his arm and her hands shot to her head, a sharp pain shooting through it all of a sudden causing her to fall to her knees.

"William! Serenity! What's g-oh my! What happened to her?!" Darla came running around the corner and at once saw Serenity lying on the ground, clutching her head, moaning in pain.

"I don't know, I moment I'm trying to remind her about us when we were little so she would stop trying to dislocate my arm, and then she collapsed with her hands holding her head."

"We need to get her back to the house, now!" Darla was kneeling next to Serenity with her hand on Serenity's forehead. William just nodded and leaned down picking her up, a slight look of pain flashing across his face from his shoulder but he just took her and jogged to the house, his mother following close behind.

'_What is this?! This is the what? Third? Time that I've had a blackout today, what is happening to me?' Serenity thought, having a sinking feeling and then it stopped. She was standing in the middle of a clearing by a stream. 'Hey, I know this place, it's the place from the picture in that room.'_

"_Serri-san! You got my message! Yay!" The boy came running in from the left and jumped on the girl, who had been sitting on a rock, staring at a tree._

"_Why wouldn't I get it? I helped you make the code didn't I? So how are you Will?" the girl said smiling and giggling at the boy on top of her._

"_I don't know. I'm good, thanks Serri, how about you? I missed you." he shrugged and smiled, getting off of her._

"_I'm ok, I missed you too. I was really bored all day. Are you sure none of the other kids saw you or followed you?" She got up and looked around._

"_Me too. Yes, I'm very sure, but why would they come out here anyway? This is outside the town boundaries, the repelling charm doesn't work out here and they're scared that they're going to get gotten by a Skrit or Boog." He said with a sort of smirk._

"_I know but they might go and tell our parents and then we'd get in big trouble, remember what happened last time?" she said, going and sitting on the rock again._

"_Okay, yeah, I remember, that was really bad. I had to stay in the house for a week, I was bored out of my mind." He had a sour expression on his face and stuck out his tongue at the thought._

"_Let's have some fun now, I bet I can catch more fish then you can!" she said with a laugh and turned around to face the stream._

"_You're on!" The boy ran over to a rock beside her and they started laughing and playing in the stream._

**.................**

"Serenity! Serenity wake up! Serenity!"

"Ugh! My head." Serenity sat up on the couch rubbing her face again.

"Thank God! I was so worried about you Serri!" William was sitting by her on the couch and looking very worried, a big change from the smug expression he had on when they met.

"Yes, you most definitely did! Are you okay Serenity? Does anything hurt?" Darla was sitting on a chair in front of her.

"I....." _'I what? I feel, different, somehow. But wait, I remember something, whoa, what are all these memories? Where did they come from? I don't remember having them before.' _She stopped rubbing her face and looked up at William and Darla and started crying, she didn't know why but she did. "I remember! Oh Will!" she cried and hugged him.

Okay, I'm done with that one. Sorry about the chapters seeming to get longer and longer, I'm trying to shorten them but there's too much stuff that I try to get into one chapter but oh well. Okay, that's it! Please R&R :D


	4. Chapter 4: My True Home is the Valley

**Author's Notes**

Howdy hi! I'm back again after a little break, after all, I was cranking out one of these babies every two or three days so I got really, **really** bad sleep because night time is the only time I can be alone to type. Okay! This one shows you just how bipolar Serri can be, lol, just kidding, we get to watch a fight in here. –grabs a chair and table and starts handing out tickets and popcorn- hopefully this'll be good, I been wanting to do a fight scene for a while. Okay, and just for kicks, I might have someone pop up and talk in the ending notes about some of the stuff that's happening or is going to happen in the future if the chapter isn't too long but it probably will be so I might have to save it for another time. Even if I do get it in this time or next, it'll be a random thing so you might see it at the ends of other chapters as well, depending on if I'm bored or if I get interesting questions, so send in questions if you want along with any reviews. :D Okay, disclaimer time: I do not own any of things in here that might seem familiar to any of you who have seen or read miscellaneous anime or manga series including names, techniques, moves, or words, etc. Okay, enjoy!

_**Characters 'thoughts', flashbacks, and dreams_

**Chapter 4: My True Home is the Valley**

"It's okay Serenity, it's okay, you're home now and you're with us." Will was hugging Serenity and stroking her hair as she cried into his shirt.

"-sob- I'm so sorry Will. I'm sorry Darla. –sob- I-I didn't remember anything, it was all blank, I didn't know." Serenity sobbed.

"It's ok dear, everything is okay now that you're with us and home." Darla had gotten up and sat down on Serenity's other side and was rubbing her back.

"Mom, could you go and get something to drink for Serenity and maybe something to eat?" he asked looking over at her. "I don't think that Serri has had anything to eat in a while. Have you?" he looked at Serenity's half hidden face. She just shook her head and kept on crying, but she had stopped crying as hard as she was earlier.

"Okay, you wait here dears and I'll go get something for you to eat and drink. I'll bring you some of my homemade Snaps, you always loved those didn't you Serenity?" she smiled sweetly, getting up and walking towards the kitchen.

"I-I think so, b-but I can't remember very clearly." Serenity said back in a soft voice and then started to cry again, but much more softly now. "-sniff - I think that I'm okay now. Sorry for that little outburst, I don't know what came over me." She let go of Will and got back up into a more upright position, wiping away the tears and taking a deep breath.

"Feeling a little better now?" He said, looking over at her with a soft caring expression on his face, he still had his arm around her.

"I guess, but I still have a splitting headache though." She shrugged off his arm and got up to pace some, the house was pressing in on her again and she needed to move after sitting for so long.

"I'm glad to hear that you're feeling a little better. What happened earlier anyway? You were really ticked off and were dislocating my arm, just as you promised you would. But then you cried out and collapsed, what was up with that?" he was still sitting down and watching her pace back and forth.

"I don't know, while I was in the room, I thought that I recognized the picture or like, the style it was drawn in and I got this funny feeling in the back of my head while I was looking at it. Then after you told me about the picture in the room and the other stuff, I got that same feeling but this time it kept going and BANG! It was like something went too far and made something else, something that had been there and a part of my mind for a long time; just shatter and a flood of memories just came bursting in. I think that's why I collapsed, it was a, information overload." She was frowning and pacing even faster, she felt somewhat like one of the caged creatures that she had seen in one of the other towns that she had visited.

"Really? Hm, it sounds like someone put a block in your head, I wonder why though? What could be so bad about a few old memories? And who could be twisted enough to take away a persons memories of their childhood?" She could tell from his voice that he was becoming angry.

"I don't really know, it's not like I remember anything that could be used to hurt someone else or that's incredibly important. However there are some things that keep popping up that are a little painful, but other then that, there's just memories like anyone else would have." _'Kind of' _she thought to herself.

"Then why in the world would anyone-" he began his tone becoming more and more angry but she cut him off mid sentence.

"Um, I'm sorry to interrupt you Will, but I can't take it anymore, can we go outside please, I feel like I'm in a cage." She said with an anxious face.

"What? Oh, okay. Heh, well at least that hasn't changed about you, you still don't like to stay in one place too long." He said, smiling his dimpled smile, which immediately caused her to see about fifty different images of him smiling that same smile. "He mom! We're going to be outside because Serri-san's feeling restless." He called towards the kitchen, getting up and walking towards the door.

"Okay, I'm almost done with the Snaps so I'll bring them out to you guys in a little bit." His mother called back. After hearing this, Serenity shot past Will for the door and was out it faster then he thought possible.

"Ahhhh......" she said in content. "Perfect, lots better than it is in there." She wandered a little ways farther from the house and just sat down in the grass, it was a beautiful, warm sunny day.

"Whoa Serri! I've never seen anyone move that fast before in my life! You must've **really **felt caged up in there." Will said in amazement as he walked out the door a little while after her and came over to sit by her. "How in the world did you do that?!"

"Easy, I put one foot in front of the other and kept doing that over and over again really, **really** fast." She said with a satisfied half smile.

"I could see that but, whoa, you were like lightening, what the heck?"

"Will, in case you haven't figured it out yet, I haven't been around here in a long time, about, what, thirteen years? Well I haven't just spent that time in the town where I moved to, I've spend all those thirteen years fending for and living by myself in the Valley, so I've learned to act first and think later as well as without speed and precision, you're dead." she said in a serious tone, her face a hard mask. "Know why I was so beat up when you found me?" she said, turning to look him in the face.

"No, but I'll tell you one thing, I've never seen anyone look like that and still be alive, it looks like you were attacked by a Skrit or a Boog." He said back, his face a mixture of worry and surprise.

"Actually it was a **group **of Skrits, Boogs are too stupid to do that much. The reason you've never seen anyone look like that and survive is because you've never met anyone who actually, purposely got in a fight with a group of Skrits and got out of it alive. For me, fighting a group like that is a regular day, if I didn't then it'd be like a day off." She said with a very nonchalant tone and began fiddling with a leaf on the ground near her.

"WHOA! Hang on a second and back up. A **group **of Skrits?!? Are you kidding me?! That's suicide! And you're saying that **that's **a regular day for you?! Where are your parents, don't they care about what you go through everyday to just survive?! Erin and Layle were always hovering over you and watching you like hawks, how could they let something like this happen?! Their only daughter living in the wild of the Valley without protection, what are they thinking?!?!" He was absolutely furious and yelling very loudly, his face becoming more and more red.

" Yepp, and it's not suicide if you know what you're doing, all you have to do is watch them carefully and dodge the stinger as much as possible, then grab it and jab it into one of their eyes, that'll take care of them, but they'll still thrash around so watch out. For making the poison themselves, they sure can't handle getting hit with any of it ironically enough." She said with a laugh. "Well, I don't know, they're probably not thinking anything at all right now and I think that they could probably care less about what I'm doing as well." She said this in the same tone as before, completely ignoring Will's angry shouts and still messing with the leaf.

"WHAT?! How could they?! They were always so nice when I talked to them, how could they be so cold and uncaring." he was becoming even more furious and his face had become a rather intense shade of scarlet.

"Yeah, I guess they were pretty nice, from what I remember of them." She had put the leaf aside and was staring at the ground now.

"Well what could they possibly be busy with that's more important to them then taking care of their only child?!?!?" He finally stopped yelling and just looked at her, waiting for her to make a wild guess or something. Then she just looked up and stared him strait in the eye.

"Being dead." She said to him, her tone casual but underneath there was an icy hardness that showed through in her usually warm, fiery eyes and froze them like ice cold stones, emotionless and empty. He felt like he was staring into the Kaze Void that he had heard about in old fairy tales.

"Dead?" was all he was able to get out, the look in her eyes drowning out all of his other words.

"Yes, dead. They were killed by a group of terrifying creatures when I was eight. They came in the night and destroyed the town, burning it to the ground and killing those who were caught. My parents protected me to the end and were killed in the effort. The last thing I remember of them is watching those things kill them and then come for me and that's all." She had broken the eye contact about half way through the story but her voice remained icy and hard.

"Oh......." he said in a small voice, looking at the ground as well. "I had no idea, I'm so sorry Serenity." His voice was soft and his face caring.

"Feh! I don't need your or anyone's pity" she said frowning and getting up to walk towards a nearby tree. "I turned out just fine without my parents or anyone else taking care of me most of my life, and I don't need anyone to start." She circled the tree once and then jumped up, grabbed onto one of the branches and swung herself up onto it where she sat down and glared at the sky.

"I would disagree, if you had had someone there for you when you were young, then you might be a little more social and less uptight and serious." Will said staring at her up in the tree with a small amount of awe underneath his firm gaze.

"I've always been like this, so lay off." She stopped glaring at the sky and looked down to stare back at him, still glaring.

"No, you haven't." He crossed his arms and set his face in stare-down mode like he would when they were having a staring contest or were angry at each other when they were younger.

"Boy, don't start with me, I'll tear you limb from limb with less then it would take you to blink." She jumped down from the tree and walked over to him and stood there, glaring down at him.

"Oh really?" He said in a taunting voice. "I'd like to see you try." He stood so that he was eye to eye with her, both of them glaring daggers at each other, their teeth set.

"Bring it, boy." She said venomously, dropping into a fighting stance.

"Stop calling me that, I'm as old as you are." He said with an equally venomous tone and also dropping into a fighting-like stance.

"William! Serenity! The food's ready- oh!" Darla was standing a few yards away with a tray of stuff and a very startled look on her face. "What on earth are you two doing?!" She hurried over to them and set the tray down on the ground. "Well, what's the meaning of this?!" She had her hands on her hips with a stern expression on her face.

"Nothing, just a little argument." Serenity said in a less deadly tone, standing upright, while still glaring death at Will.

"Yeah, just a little argument, but everything's **fine **now mom." Will said in a mirroring tone and going over to pick up the tray.

"Uh-huh, well, I think that I'll stay out here with you guys anyway, I want to talk to Serenity some." She said, taking the tray back and eyeing them suspiciously and sitting down.

"That's fine with me but I don't think that **she **is in much of a talking mood right now." He said, pointing at Serenity and sitting down by Darla.

"I am in whatever mood I feel like thank you **very** much, **William**." She said with a polite but poisonous tone, shooting him another death glare and going to sit on the other side of Darla from him. He just snarled back at her.

"What is with you guys? When you walked out of the house you were all happy, but now you just look like you want to rip each other's heads off." Darla said looking at both of them and shaking her head.

"Ask **her**." William said jabbing a finger at Serenity.

"Don't start this game with me, **boy**." Serenity said back in the same poisonously sweet voice, standing up, her eyes narrowed.

"I **said** don't call me **boy**!" He got up too and lunged at her, just barely missing hitting his mother in the head with his foot. Serenity dodged easily and nailed him in the gut with a punch. "OOF! Why you little-"

"Bring it on **pretty boy**, show me what a village boy can do!" She said in a taunting voice with a nasty smirk on her face. "I've lived in the forests of the Valley most of my life and faced things that you could never imagine." She hissed at him as he struggled to get back up after she had smashed her elbow down on his head while he was bent over. "Do you really think that you can even **touch **me, let alone fight me and hit me?" She was standing over him and snarling the words in his ear.

"Oh I have a feeling that I'll be able to do more than **that**." He said back through clenched teeth and took a swipe at her legs, but she was too fast for him and dodged him again, easily. He got back to his feet quickly and they began circling each other.

"Both of you please stop this now!!!" Darla was standing now, and was in the middle of them holding her arms out to try and stop them.

"Mom, **move**." Will said and pushed her aside as he made another lunge at Serenity, which missed again and was followed by roundhouse kick from her, which he just barely managed to dodge. "Why do you always have to be so stupid and hot-headed?!" he yelled at her, dodging a kick to the side.

"Why do you always have to start things by saying things that you know nothing about?!" Serenity yelled back, moving out of the way of a punch aimed at her head. "If you hadn't gone and changed so much then we wouldn't be having this fight!!" she struck faster than the cobra-like tail of a Skrit with a punch to his face and then kneed him in the gut with merciless force.

"Changed?! You're the one who's changed!!" He choked out, collapsing to the ground and spitting out some blood.

"Yeah, so I've changed a **little**, you've changed a **lot **more than me, Will!" She said back to him.

"Yeah right!! How have I changed exactly then Serenity? Please do tell." He had gotten back up and was holding his stomach and shaking his other fist at her.

"You've turned into a **jerk**!! When I ran into you earlier and you were being all "I'm so full of myself and I can get anything I want from any girl" and trying to **kiss** me! As well as how you had your **shirt**, I bet after running around and then going into town after a while really makes the girls swoon and flock to you." Her voice was getting louder and louder but her tone was still ridiculing and full of disgust, her face mirroring the disgust. "And your **attitude**! **Ugh**! Self-centered and king of the world! It makes me **sick**!" She was screaming now and Will just stood there with a blank look on his face. "You're **nothing** like the Will I remember, sure you can sort of act like him like you did earlier, but as far as I'm concerned, that Will is **dead **to me!!!" When she stopped, she just stared him hard in the face, breathing hard and tears welling up in her eyes.

It was silent for a little bit, Darla standing to the side, staring at Serenity. Will staring at Serenity with a look of mixed emotions, his mouth slightly open, and Serenity staring back at him her face set in a hard mask of rage and hate.

"Serri, I-" He managed to get out before she cut him off.

"No! I don't want to hear it! That's it, I am leaving this place; it no longer holds anything of value to me. I thought that I would find home or something like it here and maybe even a face that I knew, but I was terribly mistaken, my home is in the Valley and the faces I know are the ones of the creatures in the Valley!" She said this and turned away from Darla and Will and she said just before she started running for the trees across the clearing, "Don't bother trying to stop me or follow me, it'll just be a waste of your time and breath. Forget my face while your at it as well, it doesn't mean anything to either of you anymore." Her tone was hard as stone and cold as ice; then she shot off like lightening.

"Serenity! Please! Wait! I'm sorry! Please!" Will called and began to run after her, ignoring the pains from the fight.

"William! Come back!" Darla ran a short ways but stopped. "Don't follow her past the boundaries!" She called after him but he ignored her and, after a short, uneasy pause, plunged into the forest after Serenity.

Okay! Done! I'm really sorry that it's kind of a drop off but I just realized how many words are in here and I had to stop. I'm really sorry, I promised myself that I wouldn't do this because I hate drop offs but I had to, sorry. Okay, I know that I said that I was flying through these chapters but, well, I've hit a wall (it hurt bad, don't try it) and the wall is called school and afterschool activities, I am terribly sorry about this. Also, I know that saying this is a cruel thing to do but I want to say it anyway, chapter 5 is just sitting on my desktop half done, there, I said it, I'm sorry!! It stares me down everyday so I'll get to it over Christmas break, I promise! 'Kay! The chapter is long enough as is so no one's going to pop up this time, so R&R please. Bye-Bye (forgot that I said someone might pop up ^ so I'll leave it there anyway.)


	5. Chapter 5: Respect for a Kill

**Author's Notes**

Hiya! I finally finished this chapter like I was planning on doing but was delayed for about 3 months *cries a little*. Okay! I finished this baby up and I was bored for a while with the current chain of events, and just to prove it I'm having Will share some feelings, do some reflecting, and have some self-realization! BLEH! But whatever, it was going to happen sometime and he needed to see that he was a jerk very badly, or else I would have had him killed and the story would have ended there and Shinma would have been destroyed because I can't stand writing a jerkish, self-centered, air head, almost main character, anymore. –twitch twitch- And if he had stayed the way he was, he was going to die a very, **very, VERY** gruesome and painful death, I would have made sure of it. –more twitching and a malicious laugh- Um, yeah, I am okay! 0_o Anyway, disclaimer time: I do not own any of things in here that might seem familiar to any of you who have seen or read miscellaneous anime or manga series including names, techniques, moves, or words, etc. Okey dokey, here you go! (finally)

_**Characters 'thoughts', flashbacks, and dreams_

**Chapter 5: Respect for a Kill**

'_Why the heck is he persisting on following me? I could have sworn that he would stop at the town boundary out of fear of running into one of the beasts out here.' _The thought passed briefly through her mind but soon progressed to other more important things. _'That reminds me, where in the world are Sirus and Lithe? I haven't seen them since I passed out at the edge of the forest.' _Almost as soon as she finished the thought, she heard the sound of wing beats and looked up to see Sirus and Lithe flying above her as she ran. _'Well speak of the devils, leave it to them to make a perfect entrance time.' _She thought with a smile, still running. _'I can't hear Will running behind me anymore, maybe he finally stopped and turned back? Nah, more likely that I lost him, after all, he's not used to running through the thick undergrowth, where as I am.'_

'_Darn it! I lost her, how am I ever going to say how sorry I am to her now? It's hopeless, I'll never find her, the Valley is huge and she probably knows it better than any living person. But I __**have**__ to find her; I need to say I'm sorry, heck! I'll even get down on my hands and knees and beg for her forgiveness. I can't believe I was so blind to how much I've changed since she left! I guess I felt so lost and alone after she left that I started to, I don't know, just throw myself into the field work and any other work I could find and try to keep my mind busy so I wouldn't think about her. I even stopped drawing for a time, but then, something changed and I started seeing Serenity, at least parts of her in other girls, I missed her that much. It all just went down hill from that point I guess. When I first saw Serenity lying there on the ground at the edge of the clearing, all battered and bruised like that, the only thought that went through my head was, "She reminds me of Serenity" which is the same thing that always went through my head with any other girl I met. And then when she was running away from the house and towards me, just like with any other girl, I thought, "She looks so much like how I picture Serenity would look if she were running towards me, calling my name and hugging me." Ugh! I was so caught up on the moment and just thinking that she would be like any other girl and, as Serri put it, __**swoon **__over me, god I really am a jerk now that I really think about it, Serenity was right, about everything. Now I really have to find her!' _He was still stumbling though the undergrowth in the direction that Serenity had gone as he was thinking about this. Then he heard a sound to his left, he stopped and his head snapped towards the sound. "Hello? Serenity? Is that you?" _'Holy crap! I just realized something! I'm alone, I'm probably well outside the town boundary, I'm unarmed, and there are creatures out here that would call me a snack. Man am I screwed. Serri-san, if you're out there and you can here me, please come here!' _he though this with all his might and just hoped for the best. He waited, frozen still, to see if the sound came again, but it didn't, so he thanked Lady Luck and started to walk on. As soon as he took one step, there was a weird growling noise and an ugly little dog-like creature that came up half way up his thigh with brown, hairless, skin, three eyes, an enormous, gaping, fang-filled mouth, short stumpy legs, and a tail that looked like a cobra lunged at him out of the undergrowth, snarling. "Skrit!'"he cried in terror.

........

"_Screech_!!!"

"Huh? What is it Lithe?!" Serenity stopped running immediately and looked around to try and find what had made Lithe cry out.

"_Screech_!!!" Lithe cried out again and turned and started flying back the way Serenity had come, followed closely by Sirus.

"What?! What is it?! What's wrong?!" Serenity asked in frustration, shaking her head. Lithe came down and landed on her outstretched wrist and immediately began making a string of odd moves, gestures, and sounds. "Hang on Lithe! Slow down! Now, try again." Serenity said, putting her hand up to stop Lithe's frantic message. "Okay, okay, ok- what?! Oh no!! Darn that Will!!" she said through gritted teeth and made a quick, sharp turn back towards town causing Lithe to be thrown off her arm and have to catch herself and fly back up above the trees, Sirus had already kept going and Serenity was shooting back through the forest lightening fast.

........

"Gurrrrn!" The Skrit growled at Will who was cowering and frozen in terror.

'_What do I do?! What do I do?! I'm going to die and be eaten! No! I'm not! I have to stay cool; maybe I can get away from it some how? Wait! Wait! Serenity said something about killing them, or at least incapacitating them while we were talking earlier, before we got into that fight. If I could just remember what it was that she said! Oh! I remember! She said that you just have to watch them, dodge their stinger, grab it, jab them in the eye with it, and then watch again. Phew! I can do this! I'll show her what this __**pretty boy **__can do.' _He stopped cowering and stood up strait, the dropping into a ready stance, staring the Skrit in the eye with a determined look. The Skrit stopped and looked startled for a moment but soon recovered and attacked with its stinger. "Whoa!" _'Fooey! These things are pretty fast, man, dodging and getting their stinger is easier said then done! Wow do I really feel sorry for Serenity having to do this every day and against a __**group **__at that. I guess if I had to do this every day for about ten years the I'd be a lot like how Serenity is now.' _He dodged again, this time it was a little easier because he was paying serious attention now and concentrating on watching the its eyes. He had realized very quickly while watching it that just before it attacked, its eyes would move ever so slightly towards where it was going to strike. "Argh!" He cried out and stumbled a little when he was just a little too late and the Skrit had gotten him. It squealed in triumph at this and just sort of stood there for a moment and seemed to watch him begin to writhe in pain from the poison and fall to the ground, a satisfied grin on its pudgy face. _'Oh heck this hurts! Wow, all this pain from just one sting? Serenity was covered in little pinhole dots; the pain must have been absolutely excruciating for her and then the other injuries, dear lord.' " _Rrgh! I'm not giving up now you little heathen! I'll take you down!" He hissed at it through his teeth, getting to his feet. This seemed to make the Skrit angry and it screeched and lunged at him this time with claws extended and teeth bared and snapping viciously. It landed on him and pushed him it the ground, clawing and biting at his arms and face. _'And this is where she must have gotten the other injuries, I have two choices now: one, pass out, bleed to death, die, and be eaten, or two, fight and live.......I think that I'll go with two, unless my body takes number one.' _He thought grimly just then he saw it, the chance he was looking for previously. Without thinking twice he punched the thing right in the mouth and jammed his fist down its throat. It choked and sputtered and he threw it off his hand then he got up quickly and jumped on it, causing it to exhale forcefully. He wrestled with it, all the while the tail stinging him repeatedly. He dug his elbow into its side and then grabbed its tail and yanked it up and shoved it into its eye and held it there. The Skrit screamed out in agony and began to writhe with an incredible amount of force, but he held on and wrestled with it some more until it finally stopped and fell limp. _'I did it! Hah! Beat that Serri! This village boy can take what the Skrit gave and give it right back!' _he thought in triumph, getting up. It was then that the pain from the stings he had gotten while wrestling it hit him. "Agh!" he cried out and fell to his knees.

"Will?! Will where are you?!" He heard a voice coming from in front of him and he just managed to see someone emerge from the undergrowth before he passed out. "**Will**!!! Oh my god! Will! Are you okay? Please say something!" Serenity ran over and was kneeling beside him, beginning to cry and gently shaking him, then feeling for a pulse. It was then that she saw the dead Skrit with its tail still lodged in its second eye. "Willy, I can't believe it but you did it, you killed your first Skrit." She half whispered in his ear. "Heh, you did better then I did against my first Skrit, even if you're a lot bigger and stronger than I was but I had a weapon, you didn't have anything. And to remember what I said earlier about how to kill one, maybe, was amazing enough. I'm so proud of you." She said with a smile; then she got up and went over to the dead Skrit. Taking out one of her knives, she cut along its side and got some of the blood on it, then, taking it back over to where Will lay, unconscious, she pressed the blood-covered knife into one of the gashes on his arm. " I'm sorry, this gonna hurt even more Will but it'll be over soon, I promise."

'_.........."Will? Hello? Wiiilll? Wake up!"..........Ugh! My head, what happened to me? Oh! Wait, I remember, I was chasing Serri through the forest and I was attacked by a Skrit and................I won? Wait, that doesn't make sense. How could I have won? It's a Skrit! Lots of more experienced village men have fought them and either died or been seriously wounded.......... I guess that's it then, there is no way I could have won and now I'm dead. This sucks.........'_

"He's been out for almost an hour and he hasn't even stirred yet. His wounds are all healed and he seems to be just sleeping but if I'm right he's probably a little delusional from either the pain or the Skrit blood, maybe both. After all, this **is** his first experience with its healing properties and I know that the first time I had it; I was half out with a killer headache and double vision for almost half a day. Then again, he did just slay a Skrit single-handedly without any weapon at all." Serenity murmured to herself as she sat, leaning against a tree while watching Will, asleep on the ground, by her feet. "Maybe I should try and wake him up again, it's been about 10 minutes since my last try...." she sighed, looked at him, and then nudged him with her foot. "Will! Come on! Get up! I think you've had enough time to rest up and recuperate." She nudged him again.

'_So since I'm dead, now what? Do I just stay here? More importantly, where is here? It doesn't look like anywhere a dead person would want to go and it certainly doesn't feel like one either. It's dark, cool, hard, smells earthy, and it feels like someone is kicking me in the side........... Definitely not somewhere I want to spend the rest of my eternity........."Will, this is the last time I'm asking nicely, wake up!".........And then there's that really annoying voice that keeps coming back again and again and again. It almost sounds like Serri's voice, but I don't want to listen to her in that tone for more than a few minutes, heaven forbid eternity!'_

"He has got to be the heaviest sleeper that I've ever seen! We could be attacked by a pack of screaming Sevlows and he wouldn't wake up! Those things could wake a mountain golem from its sleep and mountain golems are only supposed to wake up every 50 or so years! Yeesh!"

'_Ugh, I think I have a headache which doesn't make sense but then again, nothing has made sense so far. Maybe I'm not dead after all........"That's it! William Jay Millin! If you do not get up right now, you will sorely regret it! Literally!'........and again with the voice, it sounds louder and closer now though"_

"Have it your way then!" she growled, getting up. "This is gonna hurt, I'll make sure of it." Then she kicked him hard in the side. "GET UP!!!!"

"UGH!!!! Uhhhh......... What in the world was that for?!?!?" he yelled rolling over to frown at her. "Hey, wait a minute, what am I doing here? I thought I was dead." His face was confused and questioning.

"**That **was for not getting up the first 7 or 8 times I tried to wake you up. And sorry to ruin your party but you aren't dead and you probably couldn't be farther from death at the moment." Serenity was standing over him with her arms crossed and a _________ look on her face.

"Huh? Then you mean that I actually did beat the Skrit?" he said, his voice becoming excited.

"Yepp, it's dead as a doornail. Don't believe me then look over there." she said pointing a few feet behind him. He turned over and saw the Skrit lying there where it had fallen after their fight.

"Wow, I can't believe it, I actually killed a Skrit. I'm in shock." he said just staring at it.

"So am I, the village boy can actually do something worthwhile besides strut his stuff for the girls and act like an over confident jerk." Serenity smirked.

"Hey, what did I tell you about calling me b......." he trailed off as he tried to get up. "Uhhhhh........my head. Are you sure that you just kicked my in the side because it feels like you smacked me upside the head with a tree trunk." he moaned, holding his head.

"Feels like the worst hangover of your life doesn't it?" she sat back down beside him with an amused look on her face and gave a short laugh.

"No, this is a lot worse than a hangover and I **know** what a hangover feels like. This is something completely different and much more unpleasant." he was up on one elbow holding his head with his other hand.

"Well that's Skrit blood's healing capabilities for you. They definitely give a new meaning to the phrase 'everything comes with a price'. Ha! Ha!" she smiled over at him and punched him lightly in the arm. "But you're tough since you could take out a Skrit so shake it off, you'll get over it."

"Says you, I feel like someone's playing drums on my head." He groaned again, lying back down. "And what is with you? Last time I talked to you, you were beating me up in a rage and then running off into the forest saying to forget your name and face." He said in an accusatory tone frowning at her.

"You beat a Skrit, I guess you've earned a little bit of my respect." She said rather nonchalantly, shrugging and looking at the sky. "But mind you, it can be lost far easier than it is gained so don't go be a jerk after this." looking back down at him with a warning look on her face.

"Oh I'll be sure not to do that, I like it better when you're not trying to dislocate my arms or send me to a clinic with some broken bones, a black eye, and some broken teeth. That is definitely not anywhere near the top of my 'To-do' list." He said jokingly but assuring as well. He rubbed his head a little and then shot bolt upright. "Oh no!!" he cried smacking his hand into his forehead.

"What?! What is it?!" Serenity said, standing immediately and scanning their surroundings for any signs of danger.

"Mom! I completely forgot about her! She's probably having a panic attack by now with how long we've been gone." He struggled to his feet and began to walk in a random direction but staggered and fell against a tree.

"Woah there tough guy, not so fast, you're forgetting two things." She said, walking over to him and putting his arm around her neck to help support him.

"And what might they be?" he asked, still trying to stand and walk but failing miserably.

"Well, one: you can't even stand up straight, let alone walk and two: you have no idea which way to go. Oh, and one more thing, I highly doubt that Darla is panicking over my absence. Yours on the other hand.......well, lets just hope she has a strong heart and some common sense."

"Hm, I guess you're right on all three things but what do you mean 'common sense'?" he looked at her with a puzzled expression.

"I mean that I hope she has enough sense not to try and come into the forest after you." she said and began to turn to their left and drag him along beside her.

"Oh, yeah, right, that wouldn't be a very good thing if she came in and was attacked. So lets hurry and get back before she reaches the breaking point of her common sense restraints." He began to attempt to walk along with Serenity and try to go fast, it was better than his last attempt but still not very good.

"I agree but why don't you let me do the heavy lifting so we can get there faster so stop for a second." She came to a stop from their slow pace and pulled him up and onto her back. "There we go, that'll be much faster now." And she took off at a brisk walk.

"Woah! What in the world Serri? How can you just pick me up and walk off like you're not even carrying anything?" he asked, very startled and amazed while holding on tightly so he wouldn't fall off.

"I already explained this to you Will, I've lived in these wild parts for most of my life. I've had to do a lot of things that you would never even think about doing, like building a shelter, making weapons, or even climbing across giant pits for example. If you do those things enough, you're gonna build up a lot of skills as well as strength, speed, and stamina so lets just say that compared to a few of the things I've had to carry, you don't weigh anything." she said laughing and quickening her pace just to prove it.

"Wow, I sure am glad that I've lived in the village my whole life. I don't think I could sleep light enough that if I was attacked in my sleep I could be awake enough to defend myself." he said thankfully and in amazement.

"I didn't do that part alone, I had help from Lithe and Sirus." She weaved around a tangled mass of roots and dodged a low hanging branch.

"Oh, ok. Which reminds me, where are they? I haven't seen them since one of them led me to where you were lying just inside the town boundaries." They dodged another low branch.

"Oh they're around, they were with me earlier and led me to where you were. They're birds of prey, they live by their own rules and do as they please, if they want to go away for a while then they do. They come back eventually though." She said casually.

"But I thought that they were your pets.........so shouldn't they stay with you?" he asked and then ducked his head to miss a vine.

"No, they're my **companions**, not my pets." She said rather annoyed and forcefully.

"Pets. Companions. Same thing." He said shrugging and ducked once again to miss another vine that he was sure Serenity had purposely ignored.

"There is a **big** difference in my book. Pets are creatures that people keep for their own purposes and usually keep them with them most of the time or have them help with their work. Companions travel with a person of their own free will and may come and go as they please and are not forced to stay by a master's side." She began to slow down to a brisk walk again. "We're almost there, I think that you can get down now." and she let him slide off her back.

"How do you know?" he staggered a little but managed to stay up strait and take a few steps forward.

"I can smell and hear the village from here. So we've got about another hundred yards and we should pop out towards the southern side but still in the boundaries and can take the road into the village and back to your mom's house." Holding his arm firmly, she helped him keep walking slowly but becoming faster.

"How do y-" he began to ask but she cut him off midsentence.

"I already told you about 3 or 4 times how, so stop asking because I'm gonna stop answering." She said impatiently, letting go of his arm and walking ahead of him.

"Oh, right, sorry, I forgot again." he said apologetically, rubbing the back of his head and smiling slightly.

"I know, don't you always. Now stop being sorry and hurry up. For your sake, you should be out of here before that dead Skrit's posse finds him and goes on a war crusade for revenge." She looked behind them and then sped up a bit.

"Huh? But how would they know it was me and not some other animal? And what do you mean 'his posse'? I know they travel in small groups but you talk like he has a following or something." He quickened his pace to keep up with her and looked behind him too.

"Because they know each and every person's scent in every village in their territory. They are probably one of the most cunning and unpleasant creatures that this world could throw at a person. As a matter of fact he does have somewhat of a 'following', he is the group leader of the Skrit population in this particular territory." She stopped for a second, looked behind them and then cursed softly to herself. " And they have just found his corpse so we had best make haste." As soon as she had said that, they heard a horrible screeching sound from behind them.

"Each and every one's scent? But how is that possible? And what do you mean the '**leader**'? If he was the leader then shouldn't he be **tougher** than the rest?" he asked all these questions while running after Serenity with a mixture of mild confusion and fear on his face.

"Yes, each and every one's scent but don't ask me why, I don't speak Skrit enough to ask one and I really don't care enough to want to know how. I mean leader as in he gives the orders and leads the largest group of elites and no, he doesn't have to be the strongest or the best anything, he just has to have the support of the majority of the others. Humans aren't the only ones in this world with enough brains to think logically and efficiently. When it comes to some areas of thinking, Skrits have humans beat by a mile and a half." she called over her shoulder and then looked back once more and pulled back to run behind him.

"Wait, you speak Skrit? What, wait, never mind, I won't ask. I had no idea that the Skrit population was organized to that point or that they were that intelligent." he said over his shoulder and almost tripped on a protruding root but caught himself and kept going, weaving between trees and bushes.

"It is and this is a perfect example of why you should never make them mad and especially not furious, which is what they are right now. Because their specialty is coordinated torture and efficient execution and they're almost on us so go faster!" she pushed him to go faster as the sound of shredding leaves and vicious growls came into hearing.

"I'm going as fast as I can!" he cried back to her. "Can't you just fight them? You said yourself that you take out groups of them on a daily basis."

"I could but I can't fight like I usually do and protect you at the same time since you're their target." she said very forcefully. The sound was getting louder and louder, she looked back and saw a flash of a Skrit's shape in the bush.

"I see an opening, we're almost there!" he cried, picking up his pace as the terrain became a little less wild.

"Good! NOW DIVE!!" she shouted and shoved him with all her might out into the opening and into the road with her following close behind him. She shot up and quickly dragged him farther away from the forest edge.

"We made it!" he cried in between gasps and fell back onto the ground, smiling to himself.

"_SCREECH!!!!"_

He shot upright and watched in horror as about a dozen or so Skrits burst out of the forest. "Oh no!! I thought you said that we were safe?!" he yelled pointing at the Skrits and looking at Serenity crouching beside him.

"We are safe." she said calmly just looking at the ravenous band of snarling Skrits and smiling. Just then there was a deep and ominous rumbling sound from under the ground. It grew as the Skrits began to slowly come towards them.

"ARE YOU INSANE?!?! HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND?!?! THEY'RE COMING RIGHT TOWARDS US!!!" he shouted at the top of his lungs, looking at her in horrified disbelief.

"Just watch." She replied back and pointed toward the ground at the Skrit's feet as the ground began to shake with the growing rumble. Just as the Skrits were about to attack, the ground burst open and thousands of roots shot up, seizing the group of unsuspecting Skrits. As Will sat and watched in shock, the roots began crushing their screeching, writhing bodies and when they had been crushed into a bloody, gruesome mass, the roots dragged the entire scene and remnants of the group of enraged Skrits back down into the earth where they had came.

Okay! This chapter is really long and kinda messy at the end but oh well, that's how it is. So I'm finally finished and I'm starting on the next one, I'll try to finish it in good time but I don't know, it's a good thing I'm on a roll :D So thanks for reading and please R&R see ya next time :D


	6. Chapter 6: Heartbreaking Question

**Author's Notes**

Greetings and salutations! I'm here again and typing another chapter of Broken Destiny. YAY! I have no idea but I think that this might be the last chapter where they are in the village of Cline. It's been getting kind of boring being here but I haven't had them leave because of a few things.......1: I have no idea where I'm gonna send them first. 2: it's been a while since I've looked at my "map" so I kind of forget the places names. 3: I can't find my "planner" paper so I have no idea what events are going to happen when and I might get them mixed up. Ya, I know you're probably thinking "What the heck? Aren't you supposed to be the one writing it? Why do you need a planner or anything else? Just write it!" Well yeah, I thought about that but a: I'm an organization freak so I like having things down and in order before I do things, I'm not a 'wing-it' person and b: I worked really hard on that planner and it had a lot of good ideas on it for making a better story, so yeah. Okay, I'm done rambling, here's the next chapter :D

_**Characters 'thoughts', flashbacks, and dreams_

_

* * *

_

_ **Chapter 6: Heartbreaking Question**_

"Wh-wh" Will began to sputter but Serenity cut him off.

"You want to know what that was?" she said calmly looking at his expression, which had come to and passed the state of shock a long time ago. Will just nodded for lack of being able to form any sort of coherent sentence. "That was the boundary spell that village children hear about so often but never really know what it looks like."

"B-boundary sp-spell?" he stuttered.

"Yes, it's the only reason that villages aren't attacked and destroyed by the creatures of the valley." She responded in the same level voice, still looking at the ground where the roots had emerged.

"Ok........" he said looking down. Then he looked back up and at her rather quickly. "But wait, what about Sine? Didn't you say that it was attacked and destroyed?" he seemed to have snapped out of his freeze and was looking at her questioningly.

"I was hoping that that bit of information would slip past you but if you remember about my tips on how to kill a Skrit while in a panic situation then I guess that one didn't have a chance of escaping." she said solemnly and looked to the sky. "I don't know what happened with Sine. From what I can remember, the creatures were huge with powerful arms and big jagged looking swords, so maybe they overpowered the spell or something, I don't know." She shook her head and got up to pace, frowning at the ground.

"Or....." he said, deep in thought with his arms crossed and trailing off.

"Or what?" She had stopped pacing and was looking at him intently.

"Or they weren't from the valley. You said yourself that the spell protects from creatures of the valley invading the villages; maybe it doesn't work on creatures from **out** of the valley. After all, no one knows if there are lands besides the Diqui Valley in this world but at the same time, no one can disprove it. The other lands might surround us on all sides and the Saku Mountains strengthen this fact with their impassibility. Or relative impassibility since those things got here, if they were from out of the valley." he said slowly, like he was checking his logic as he spoke.

"Not from the valley? That does seem to make sense because I've never seen one of those things again as well as the fact that the old scripts of the spell don't tell of protection from outside creatures." She began to pace again but the pace wasn't as fast and agitated as it had been, it was slower and her face contemplating. "But where could they have come from if not from the valley?" she asked off-handedly.

"I have no idea, what did they look like?" he looked over at her.

"Well they were really big, and they sort of looked like humans, but without a head, and-" she broke off and stopped pacing, her eyes glazing over slightly as she began to space out.

"Okay, and what?" he got up and walked over to her. "Hellooo? Serenity? You there?" He waved his hand in front of her face.

"Huh? What? Oh, sorry, what were we talking about?" she shook her head and looked at him in confusion.

"You were describing the creatures that attacked Sine when you were little." he reminded her.

"I was? Okay, well they- ohhhhhh......" she began but stopped and put her hand over her face. "I don't feel so good, my head hurts." She swayed slightly and fell into Will.

"Woah there! There has definitely got to be a block or something in that head of yours. Here, I'll carry you back into town, think of it as payback for carrying me through he forest when I couldn't walk all that well." and he pulled her up onto his back and started walking down the road towards town.

..........

"Are you sure you want to walk the rest of the way? We really went in there a ways and it's still a far bit till town." Will asked as he let Serenity slip down off his back.

"Yeah, I'm positive. It was really nice of you and all, but I have my pride to consider. What would everyone think if you came into town carrying me on your back?" she said pointedly and began to walk on while he stood there.

"I don't know, what do you think that they would think?" he asked and went to catch up with her staying close by her side incase she started to fall again.

"Well with how you were at our first run-in, they would think, 'Isn't Will such an amazing and kind young man to help that poor helpless girl' and that is the last thing I need people thinking because I am not even close to being helpless." she snarled and quickened her pace.

"I doubt they would think that but ok and yes, I do agree very strongly with you that you and the worst definition possible for helpless." he began to do a medium jog to keep up with her fast walking. "Hey, speaking of which, there's the village now." he pointed up ahead a ways. Serenity slowed down and they walked in silence the rest of the way there.

"Hey William!" a man called as they entered the village.

"Oh, hey Jessie." Will stopped and waved to him as he walked over to where he and Serenity were standing now.

"So who is your friend? I don't think I've ever seen her around here before." he asked smiling at her, she just stood where she was with a blank face showing no emotion whatsoever which in turn caused him to withdraw slightly.

"This is Ser-" but Serenity cut him off before he could finish.

"My name is not important, so if you will excuse us, we have somewhere that we need to be right now." she said in a hard tone and began to pull Will away but he stopped her.

"Chill out a second, I'm just having a quick chat and then we'll leave." he said and turned back to Jessie.

"Sorry about that Jess, she's ok once you get to know her." He laughed and slapped Jessie on the back.

"Sure, whatever you say." Jessie said and then pulled Will aside and whispered into his ear. "Where'd you find this one Will? Did you pull her out of the forest or something? I've never seen a girl look like that and act like that either." he said, looking at Serenity like she was some sort of freak show and then smiled. "Heh heh, usually they're swarming all over you and competing for your attention." He laughed and elbowed him in the side.

"I wouldn't say that if I were you Jessie, she has ears like a dog, the temper of a Boog, and could beat you with one hand tied behind her back." Will said to him in a sincere warning tone.

"Oh really? Ha! I don't believe that, no little **girl** could beat me, and especially not with only one hand." Jessie laughed out loud. As soon as he had said this, Serenity turned around and set her stone cold gaze on him.

"You want to say that again pretty boy?" she said coolly but with an underlying poisonous note. Jessie stopped laughing and turned to her and serious look on his face.

"What did you just say to me girl?" he asked.

"You heard me **pretty boy**." she said tauntingly with a smirk on her face.

"Nobody calls me **pretty boy** and especially not a useless little girl." he snapped back clenching his fists, his face becoming red.

"Well I just did. So what're you going to do about it?" she growled and began to walk towards him casually. A crowd had begun to form to see this stranger taunt Jessie.

"Jessie, calm down, she wants you to attack her so that she can fight you." Will said, trying to hold him back and reason with him.

"Move it Will, unless you want to get hurt." Jessie snarled at him dangerously. "I'm not going to just stand here and let that freak insult me."

"Oh, so now I'm a freak? I thought that I was just a **little girl**." She continued towards him, her stone cold stare melting into taunting, fiery, battle-ready one.

"Serenity, be quiet, you're not helping anything." Will snapped at her.

"So that's the freak's name? Hah! Well **Serenity**, you really think that you can beat me?" he said in the same snarling tone as before.

"Yes, and you won't even land one hit." She stopped in front of where Jessie was standing and continued to taunt him, smirking maliciously.

"That's it, I'll wipe that smirk off your face and teach you to insult me!" he yelled and lunged at her. She dodged easily just like when she was fighting Will.

"Be my guest, I invite you to try. However, you'll have to try a little harder than that." She laughed and nailed him with a roundhouse kick square in the face, knocking him to the ground, unconscious.

"Oh, and did I mention that I would beat you in one hit?" she asked his motionless form on the ground venomously. At this the crowd began to back away with looks of fear on their faces. Some of the other men ran forward to check on Jessie but Serenity took and step forward and leveled a chilling stare at them and they backed away slowly. She then went and kneeled by Jessie's unconscious body, rolled him over, and stuck a vile of something under his nose that she had taken from her jacket. Jessie immediately shot up, his hand covering his nose and began to cough.

"Pwah! What was that?! What a horrible smell!" he looked over at Serenity and his eyes narrowed. "You..." he growled.

"Yes, me. I knocked you out cold on the ground with a kick. But I'm sorry so chill out." She said flatly and got up, offering her hand to help him up.

"You what? Why you little.... I'm going to- wait what?" he began scathingly and then stopped and looked at her and the offered hand, startled.

"I said I'm sorry for taunting you and then hitting you so hard." she said this with audible difficulty and her face became a blank slate again.

"Is there something wrong with you or something? You just got finished probably mentally cursing my existence and beating me up and now you're apologizing for that." He continued to look at her in confusion but took her hand and she helped him up.

"No, I just hate guys who think that they are superior to all women so I had to teach you a lesson. I trust that you've learned it well enough and you won't be judging a woman to be inferior to you any time soon?" she said crushing his hand in hers, her rock hard gaze boring into his eyes.

"Ow, yes! Yes! I've learned it! Satisfied?" he said trying to pull his hand out of hers.

"Yes." she said and released his hand, he pulled it back quickly and clutched it in mild pain. "Come on Will, we should be getting back to your mom's house before she kills herself trying to come after you through the forest." She called over her shoulder to him and began to walk towards Darla's house, the crowd parting as she approached. Will hesitated for a moment but then sighed and began to follow her, he stopped by Jessie and apologized greatly and then ran after Serenity.

"Serenity! Slow down! Jeez! Where's the fire?" will panted, out of breath from running after her for most of the way since she had taken off after the fight. She just sighed and didn't look at him. "What's the matter Serri? You look depressed." he said in concern.

"This is becoming just the same as any other place I go. I want to get you back to your house as soon as possible so that I can leave this place." she said with a heavy sigh.

"But Serenity, this is your home, you can't leave. What about all the catching up we have to do yet?" he said in a pleading tone, grabbing her arm and stopping her.

"I have told you this already as well, my home is the valley and the faces I know are its creatures," she said pulling free of his grip and beginning to walk again, " and as for the catching up, there is none to be done because I would rather that you forget I was here once I leave."

"Well I don't plan to, just like I don't plan to let you leave alone if you do." he ran up to walk beside her again.

"Oh really, so you plan to follow me out into the valley with all its dangers?" she looked at him in a doubtful expression.

"Yes, really." he responded in a resolved tone, crossing his arms as if to challenge her to try and change his mind.

"There won't be any beds or protection from secure shelters and there certainly won't be any easy food, you have to basically do everything yourself. Does the spoiled prince think he can take that?" she smiled and looked at him, awaiting a response which would most likely be 'no'. But what he said next surprised her a little but not much since he had that 'I can take anything you can take' look on his face.

"Yes, this spoiled prince can take it." he said smiling at the lightening fast frown that crossed her face.

"Darla will never let you go, so don't kid yourself. She guards you like a Sevlow pack guards its favorite hunting grounds." She continued on towards the house more quickly and left him behind.

"So? That doesn't mean I can't find a way to go without her consent or knowledge." He said, running to catch up with her.

"Ha! You may find a way to go without her consent, but there is no way in hell you're gonna find a way to go without her knowledge. She's not stupid you know." Serenity said, laughing and slowing down slightly to let him catch up.

"I don't really care." He said indifferently. "I'm 19 you know, it's time I leave here and go someplace else or explore." He looked towards the east and just stared at the ominous black wall that rose to slice through the clouds above.

"I'm well aware of your lack of caring Will but being 17 is no better a reason than saying just because you want to. The people of this valley don't explore it or even travel outside of their own towns if they don't have to, heaven forbid **wanting **to. It's amazing that the townspeople even know that there are other towns in this valley, let alone roads!" she said in amazement, gesturing at the path they were walking on. "So saying that you're 17 means nothing."

"I guess I don't have a real reason then............but I'm still coming, whether you like it or not." He said with a tone of finality. "Hm, looks like we're back already. I vote that you go first; mom might not get you as badly as me for what we did." He said absently and then got behind Serenity.

"Ugh! You are hopeless, helpless, and a wuss, you know that? It's not like she's gonna rip your head off, and what do you mean what **we **did? You're the one who caused the whole thing and you are also the one who decided it would be a good idea to follow me you moron." She said, turning and smacking him upside the head.

"Ouch! Well apparently you've forgotten how she can be when she's mad." Will said while rubbing his head. "I didn't start it either, it was your fault for getting defensive and running off." he argued, frowning.

"Ai! Lets not start the blame game, it gets tiring." She sighed. "Well, whatever, lets go already." She grabbed him by the back of his collar and dragged him up to the house, ignoring his loud protests. They were almost to the house when the door slammed open and a red eyed, very ruffled looking Darla charged out and grabbed Will in a big, sobbing hug.

"Oh William, my sweet, sweet baby!! I'm so happy to see that you're okay! When I saw you run off into the forest after Serenity, I almost died of fear for your safety!!!" Darla said in between sobs into Will's shoulder while hugging him tight.

"Uh, mom, it's okay, really. As you can see, I'm absolutely fine, so you can let go now. Please?" Will said with a thoroughly startled look on his face at first, then changing to a worried expression. "You look terrible, have you been sitting in your chair by the window and just crying this whole time?" He managed to get out of her grip and hold her by her shoulders so he could look her in the face.

"No, I promised you after your father died that I would never do that again and I would never break a promise to you sweetheart." She was still sobbing but she made an attempt to stop and wipe them away when she looked her son in the eye and told him that. He looked back at her for a moment and then hugged her saying he was sorry he had worried her so badly and done almost the same thing that his father had done. While Will and Darla were hugging and talking, Serenity began to slowly and discretely sneak away towards the forest but Will noticed her before she could get very far.

"And where do you think you're going?" he said and walked over, putting a firm hand on her shoulder to stop her.

"I, uh, I was just going to take a walk and leave you two alone for a while." she said in the tone of someone who had been caught red-handed and was coming up with an excuse.

"'Riiiiight, and I can bet anyone anything that you would have never returned from that '**walk' **of yours." he said sarcastically and doing quotation marks in the air when he said walk. "Me and mom are good now but thanks anyway for being so thoughtful." he said, smacking her on the back and pulling her back over to where Darla was standing and looking a little bewildered at this exchange.

"Aha-ha-ha, that's crazy, I would have come back and yeah, you know me Will, always trying to be considerate of others." she said in an equally sarcastic tone and slapping him in the back as well, causing him to take a few steps forward and then look back at her with narrowed eyes. "So, um, Darla?" Serenity said hesitantly.

"Yes Serenity?" Darla answered back in a strong but hoarse voice from all the crying.

"I, uh, I'm sorry about that whole running off thing and yelling at you and Will." she said with a little difficulty, she wasn't used to apologizing to people for anything mostly because she didn't know them enough to care or there wasn't anyone there to apologize to. But she knew Darla pretty well and she thought that she should at least make an effort to look like she was remorseful for her actions, even though she really didn't feel very sorry for what she did because all she did was try to leave this place.

"It's okay Serenity dear, I don't blame you and you don't have to apologize just because you think you should." She said, patting Serenity on the shoulder, smiling weakly and then turning towards the house. When Darla had turned away Serenity flinched quite visibly from being called 'dear' and then saw Will smirk slightly out of the corner of her eye. "Why don't you two come inside again, I have lunch made."

"Okay, thanks mom." Will said, following her to the house and then pausing and turning back to grab Serenity as she was trying to sneak away again and dragged her along with him.

"I told you already, you are not leaving here without me so just give up on the sneaking away because it won't work." he whispered in her ear, tightening his grip on her arm.

"I still don't care because you are not coming with me, not if I can help it. And no, I have no intention of giving up anytime soon **pretty boy**." she hissed back at him but didn't try to pull free of his grasp. They entered the house and walked into the kitchen where Darla had set the table and was dividing up the soup she had made. She looked up and smiled at them when they entered the kitchen and Serenity made a low whimpering sound.

"I hope that you like the soup Serenity, it's a recipe that I've had for a while but I got it after you and your parents moved away." She put the pot back on the stove and took a seat at the table.

"Thanks, I'm sure that I will." Serenity mumbled back and took the seat closest to the kitchen window, looking out it as Will took his seat by her and across from his mother.

"Mmm, looks fantastic mom, thanks so much." Will said enthusiastically and began to slurp down the soup.

"Ha ha, thank you William but I think that you should slow down a bit, it's hot and I don't want you burning yourself on it." she laughed and then began to eat her soup slowly, blowing on it before putting it into her mouth.

_'I need to get out of here; this is torture being trapped in this darned house! I feel like I'm gonna be sick it's so stuffy and oppressing in here! I don't think that I ever liked being in houses when I was young, I can't quite remember, but I really don't like being in them now. I know where the door is; maybe I can make a dash for it and get out of here before Will can stop me. Well, actually, I **know **I can get out of here before Will even has chance to realize what I'm doing but he seemed so set on going with me and I have a good feeling that if I run, he'll follow me, just like last time. Ugh! I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place! What ever power there may be in the heavens above, please help me!! Wow, I can't believe I just thought that, I haven't asked for help from anyone of anything in ages let alone believed that there was any power above that would help any of us humans down here. Ha! If there were there would be no way that the world would be like this right now, either that or they just don't care enough to bother looking down and seeing what's happened down here. Morons........' _Serenity thought to herself as her continued to look out the window and occasionally steel quick glances through the doorway into the living room and to the door.

_'She keeps looking over at the door really quick and then back out the window with a calculating look in her eyes. That and the fact she keeps fidgeting in her chair, she really does look like a caged animal, I almost feel sorry for her but I have to keep a close eye on her in case she decides to bolt. I told her twice now that I'm going with her and I fully intend to make sure that happens, I refuse to let her have all the fun exploring the valley. I remember when I heard that she was moving, at first I was shocked so badly that I couldn't think strait, she was my best, **best **friend and she had always been there when I was bored, I couldn't even imagine her not being there, even in my wildest and worst dreams. Also, I didn't really have any other friends that I could talk to or play with because me and her were always doing and talking about things that none of the other kids would ever dare to say or even thing of doing, like sneaking out of the borders to play. But after the shock part, I just felt jealous and angry. Jealous that she was going to get to explore the valley a little more and even get to go to a new town and meet the people there. Angry at her parents for taking her away and at her for leaving without me, but I never told her that. I guess that's sort of what changed my attitude, having to adapt to a world without her and to find new friends. But she's back now and I have the chance that I had wished for, for what seemed like forever after she left: the chance to go with her and explore the valley. To see what she was seeing and feel the thrill of being outside the town boundaries and silently daring the creatures to come get us, just like when we would play together by the stream as kids.' _Will thought, he had stopped eating momentarily and had begun staring into space but then he seemed to snap back and then got up to refill his bowl.

"Serenity, are you okay? You haven't touched your food and you're looking a little pale." Darla said, looking over at her with a concerned expression.

"Mm? Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm okay I guess, I just don't really feel like eating right now. Sorry." she replied absently, turning from the window to stare blankly at the bowl of soup in front of her.

"If you're absolutely sure but still-" she began but Serenity cut her off.

"Really. I'm fine Darla, think you." she said quickly, looking her in the eye.

"Okay then." Darla said and got up to begin cleaning her bowl in a tub of water. Serenity turned back to stare out the window again as Will sat back down beside her. He looked at his soup for a second and then looked at his mom with a conflicted expression.

"Mom?" he said after a short time.

"Yes?" she asked over her shoulder as she cleaned, he paused and took a deep breath

"?" he said, the words came tumbling out of his mouth in a big quick and jumbled mess. Serenity's gaze left the window and shot to his face with a look of surprise while Darla stopped what she was doing and turned to look at him.

"What? Can you say that a little slower please, you said it so fast that I didn't catch it." she said looking at him with a look of confusion.

"Um, can I, uh, maybe...." he said hesitantly and trailing off into a mumbled question.

"William, speak up and talk clearly. I don't see what could be so bad that you can't just ask it right away, you've never had any problems asking me things before." she chided him, standing and putting her hands on her hips.

"When Serenity leaves...." He paused and looked away from his mother's figure.

"Okay, what about when she leaves?" she asked, trying to coax the rest of the question out of him.

"Can I go with her?" he said after a short time, then looking his mother in the eye.

"There we go! See? That wasn't so hard to ask now was it? So you want to g-" she burst out happily but then cut off short and a look of horror crossed her face as it began to pale at the realization of what he had just asked. She grabbed onto the counter near her for support as she began to sway.

"Mom, I know that this is the exact question that has probably come out of my mouth in your absolute worst nightmares but I really want to go. I didn't want to ask it because of what happened to dad but I can't help it." he said very regretfully as he went over to his mother and help her stay upright. She shook her head and put a hand out to keep him away as huge tears began to stream down her face faster and faster.

"Serenity? Did you......." she began to ask but her voice broke and she stopped.

"No Darla, I never asked him to ask that and I would rather he stayed here in town for his own safety and for your sake." she said back quietly with her head held in a proud position and her usual hard expression on her face while staring strait at the wall opposite from where she was sitting, but then looking down.

"Mom, she didn't ask me to come, I swear. I'm really sorry, I didn't-" he began but she cut him off.

"Go." Darla said abruptly, tears still streaming silently down her face. Serenity breathed out suddenly and her hard mask shifted slightly but then regained its solid, controlled, and expressionless state.

"What?" Will asked, astonished and barely believing what he had just heard.

"I said go. You're old enough to make your own decisions now and even though I denied it over and over I knew that this day would come when you would want to leave here and explore the valley outside of here. I can't stop you so just go." she said in a resolved and controlled tone and then she turned to him and held his face in her hands, her tear filled and deeply sorrowful green eyes. "But I want you to promise me one thing, no, I want you to swear it to me." she said in a strong tone.

"What is it mom?" Will asked, taking her hands from his face and holding them in his hands.

"I want you to swear to me that you'll be safe and stay alive, if not for yourself, then for me and the memory of your father." she answered him. "Serenity, there is something that I want you to swear to me as well." she said, tearing her eyes away from her son's face and looking at the where Serenity was sitting as still as a statue who had remained motionless through the whole thing.

"Yes?" she said in a tone that matched her expression; hard and emotionless. She continued to remain motionless as Darla walked over to her. Darla took Serenity's face in her right hand and made her look at her.

"I want you to swear that you will both help keep my baby safe and teach him how to survive out there in the wild. Is that clear?" she asked her, holding her head firmly towards her as she gaze bored into Serenity's.

"Yes, I will swear to do as you ask, Darla. For your sake as well as his, your husband's, and my parents' sakes." she replied in the same tone as before.

"Good, then you leave tomorrow morning." she said and then released her head and turned to her son. "Will, you had best get your affairs in order and say your goodbyes."

* * *

Okay! So I'm done with the 6th chapter, yay! And it's really, **really, REALLY **long, not yay! I'm real sorry about them growing in length, I'm trying my best to cut it out but as you can see, I'm failing miserably because this is my longest one yet. Okay! Um, I got kind of stuck on this one (you would never be able to tell if I didn't tell you) but both you readers and I can thank my bestest buddy Cheyenne for getting me to finish it, thank you bunches!! Also, from the time that I wrote the author's notes part to the time I'm writing this part, I have found my planner thingy so I know where they're going first and the one after that, and the one after that, and, well, yeah, you get the point. I also know when my other characters are coming in as well so I'm in great shape. Yeah........ I'm still not sure how they're going to get over the mountains since I've been describing them as **HUGE GIANT AND ENORMOUS** walls of impassible rock...............but I've still got time so I'm good! Maybe.......... Oh well! There's always miracles.......... like a random hole in the mountains! Yeah............. Anyway, I'm done and I'll go now, please read and review (R&R) :D


	7. Chapter 7: This Is Your Broken Destiny

**Author's Notes**

Yes, I am back, yet again, for the, um, seventh time....... whoa! Did I just say seventh?!?! Wow! This is amazing; I'm so happy I think I might even cry. You my readers are probably thinking, "Yes, yes, we know, woohoo, seventh time, now be quiet and get on with the story so we can see what you said was supposed to happen 4 chapters ago." *Sigh* I know, I'm terrible at judging how long it'll take to get from one place to another and what'll fit in a chapter so I'll tell you again, don't believe what a foretell before you read the chapter in question because so far I'm 0 for about 5 or 6, I don't know. Anyway, enough from me, here is the **seventh **chapter which I know will show them getting told about the quest because I'm writing this part **after **I wrote the story, hee hee.

_**Character's 'thoughts', dreams, and flashbacks

* * *

_

**Chapter 7: This Is Your Broken Destiny**

"Will! Wake up! It's almost time to go! Come on, now!" Serenity whispered loudly in Will's ear while shaking him roughly.

"Hm? Wha? Mmmmm, what time is it?" he groaned sleepily, rolling over to face her.

"Before dawn and if we were already out there and in the wild and this was an attack, you'd be dead a long time ago. Darla told me to train you so I will and here's your first lesson: be ready to jump up and fight at any time of any day so if you sleep any heavier than what a stray twig snap could stir, you're dead. If you can't wake up immediately and be functional enough to effectively use a weapon and not hurt yourself, you're dead. And if you don't get up the first time you're called-" she whispered as she adjusted something on her belt but he cut her off.

"Mmm, let me guess, I'm dead?" he said, still half asleep. "Wait, did you say before dawn? What the heck? Ugh, just let me get a little more sleep, at least until the sun peeks over the horizon please?" he moaned again and rolled back over.

"Correct and too late, it's already peeking over so get up and get ready, we leave at the first call of the Elag." she said, walking over and pulling open the curtains to let the first rays of sunlight into the room, turning it a deep orange and red color.

"Nnnnn! Then give me another little bit and I'll get up." he mumbled into his pillow and sighed.

"Don't blame me for this Will but you pushed me to it." she said and then walked back over to his bed.

"Hmm?" he asked groggily. "AHH! ARE YOU CRAZY?! WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!?!" he yelled at her after she took his mattress and flipped him and it off the frame.

"I said don't blame me, it was your own decision." she said standing over him with her hands on her hips and then offering him a hand.

"How was it my decision?! I'm pretty sure that I never said, 'Please flip me out of my bed'." he said back angrily and glaring at her, but took the offered hand anyway.

"By not getting up when I told you and wanting to sleep in longer; that is one of the many luxuries that will disappear tomorrow morning when we're sleeping in the valley so you had best get used to it fast because we might be sleeping in a tree tonight and I don't think you want me pushing you out of the type we'll use for sleeping places." she said, letting out a sharp laugh at the thought of Will falling from a Kaoder tree, which greatly amused her.

"Ugh, whatever, now put my mattress back on the frame." he said, still greatly annoyed with her but fully awake now.

"Not until you're dressed and ready and down stairs, I'm not having you get back into bed and fall asleep again." she said crossing her arms.

"I hate you, you know?" he growled at her and grabbed a batch of clothes that he had put out before he had gone to bed. Then he stalked out of the room and into the bathroom to change.

"I hate you too, Willy!" Serenity called after him cheerfully and then put the mattress back and walked out of the room to stand by the bathroom door.

"Don't call me that!" he yelled from in the bathroom.

"Shhhh! You'll wake your mother!" she whispered through the door.

"She's not up yet?" he asked inquisitively.

"Nope, we're the only ones up in the whole town at the moment." she answered.

"How do you know? Can you hear them or something?" he asked and she could tell from the sound of his voice that he was frowning in confusion.

"No, I've been up for a while and I took a walk through the town." she responded and then began to walk towards the stairs.

"Oh, how long is a while? And what about the watchman, isn't he awake?" he asked, opening the door and walking out of the bathroom.

"Probably about three hours, I don't know. Yes, the watchman is asleep but I don't think that you would have to worry about that at this hour of the morning." she said over her shoulder as she walked down stairs. "I made some breakfast for you, so eat up, we've got a long day ahead of us."

"Three hours!? Do you even sleep at all?!" he whispered loudly in astonishment as he followed her down.

"Yes, but I've found that I don't really need all that much so I only take as much as I need and I don't see any point to take more, it wastes the time I could be using for other things." she said indifferently and walked into the kitchen where she sat in the place she was the night before.

"You're crazy, you know that right?" he said, sitting down to eat the breakfast she had made.

"Yes I do thank you. Now shut up and eat." she told him and then paused. "Darla's awake now." she said afterwards.

"How- Never mind, I keep forgetting." he began to ask but then stopped and started to eat. He looked towards the stairs when he heard his mother coming down.

"Oh! Serenity, Will, I didn't think that you'd be up this early. When were you planning on leaving?" she asked walking over to them and sitting down. It was obvious to Serenity that she had slept very poorly that night and she wasn't surprised, her only son had just asked her a question that had both broken her heart and terrified her at the same time.

"Whenever the snail here gets finished and all his stuff together, I just heard the Elag." Serenity said abruptly while staring out the window.

"Oh....... then it is a good thing that I got up when I did." Darla said, sadness and worry filling her voice.

"No, it's not." Serenity replied again in the same fully aware but not aware tone as before.

"Excuse me?" Darla said in a motherly 'what did you just say to me' tone.

"I said that it wasn't lucky you woke up when you did. I can tell by your voice that you've gotten very little sleep and you're in immense mental agony, you should have slept longer. We would've waited for you." she said, turning to look at her and then getting up to stand in front of the kitchen window; staring out of it again.

"What do you mean, 'We would've waited'? You flipped me out of my bed and told me to get ready fast because we were leaving at the first Elag call. So you mean if mom had stayed asleep, I could have grabbed some more shut-eye?" Will stopped and looked at Serenity, incredulously.

"Yes, she is your mother and she loves you, I would not have deprived her of the chance to say goodbye." Serenity responded in a blank tone, conveying no emotion when she spoke.

"Darn you Serenity Crest!! I don't think that I've ever met anyone that I've despised more than I despise you right now." he spat furiously, chucking his empty bowl at her which she, of course, dodged incredibly easily.

"Oh and you know that I despise you as well, Willy." She responded back in the same tone as when he had yelled he hated her from the bathroom.

"If I ever get my hands on you, I'll end you, I swear." Will growled venomously at her.

"I welcome you to try your luck, Will." she said back but he and his mother could both tell that she wasn't completely there and Will thought about taking this chance to do as he had said. "There they are, right on time." She mumbled and then flung open the window; there were two streaks of brown and the sound of fluttering wings. When everything was calm again, Will and his mother saw a very large bird with a smaller one beside it perched on the kitchen chairs.

"What is the meaning of this?! Why are these birds in my house?!" Darla exclaimed, jumping up and pointing at the birds, who in return gave indignant squawks, followed by Serenity walking to stand behind them with crossed arms.

"Firstly, these birds have names, Lithe and Sirus. Secondly, they are birds **of prey**, not just birds and calling them that is an insult. Lithe is a peregrine falcon and Sirus is an eagle hawk. And thirdly, they are here because they are my traveling companions." she responded accusingly and then held out her wrist so that Lithe could perch on it, followed by Sirus who flew up to sit on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry Serenity but I don't care who or what they are, I won't have them in my house!" Darla told her still pointing at them.

"Don't worry, we're just leaving. Come on Will, daylight's wasting." Serenity said, a slight hint of annoyance showing through in her relatively controlled voice as she walked out of the kitchen and then slammed the door to the outside behind her.

"Mom, I wish you hadn't done that. Now she's gonna be in a bad mood for a while and that means that there's gonna be a good chance that we might get into a fight which could lead to her running off and leaving me behind, alone." Will said with a pained look on his face and got up to follow Serenity out of the house.

"I'm sorry William but you know how I am with any animal in my house. I wouldn't even let you have a dog or cat when you were younger, remember?" Darla said apologetically, following him out.

"**I **know that, but **Serenity** doesn't and she really cares about those birds, they've been the only companionship she's had since her parents were killed and she ended up alone in the valley." He told her.

"What?! Serenity's parents were killed?!" Darla exclaimed, grabbing her son's arm and turning him towards her before he opened the door.

"Yes, they were killed twelve years ago when these horrible creatures came and burned Sine to the ground." he said solemnly, looking at the ground when he was saying this.

"Oh no......... that's terrible. I had no idea......." Darla said softly, a sad look entering her eyes.

"Yes, but don't say anything to her, I'm pretty sure that Serenity would rather you stayed ignorant to that fact. It was what sparked the fight between us earlier when she stormed off into the forest." Will told her warningly and then turned back to the door.

"Okay then. But that's still a terrible tragedy, Erin and Layle were such kind people." Darla murmured, the sad expression still on her face.

"Any day now Will, we need to go now." Serenity said impatiently with her arms crossed, Lithe had moved to her shoulder and Sirus was circling overhead.

"I'm coming, calm down Serri." he said, giving his mother a warning look and shaking his head as she began to open her mouth. She ignored him and walked over to Serenity.

"I'm sorry Serenity." she said, putting her hand on Serenity's free shoulder who just looked at her in return. Will suppressed a smile at his mother's cleverness in disguising her sadness at the loss of her parents as an apology for the bird comment earlier.

"Um, thanks Darla, but you should really be saying that to Lithe and Sirus, not me." she responded but her expression softened slightly and the annoyed tone in her voice was gone. "Will, are you ready to go?" Yes, that had definitely done the trick in calming her down he thought to himself and made a mental note to thank his mother for that.

"Yes, I'm ready." Will said and walked over to stand by Serenity and his mom.

"Are you sure about that?" she asked, looking at him as if to remind him about something.

"Yes, I'm sure." he replied, not understanding why she was looking at him like that.

"And where is your bag? Because unless you have mastered the art of making things invisible, I don't see it with you." she said sighing and then poking fun at him slightly.

"Oh, oops." he said looking around in embarrassment.

"Oh William, you're always forgetting something aren't you?" his mom said laughing slightly and then going into the house to get his bag.

"You're gonna be hopeless without her out there to help you remember things." Serenity said, shaking her head.

"Well I'm a relatively fast learner so I'll be okay." Will said back and put a hand up to pet Lithe who snapped her beak at his hand in response. "Yikes!" he said pulling his hand back quickly.

"Ha ha! First rule when touching Lithe and especially Sirus, always say something like, 'hey Lithe' or 'hey Sirus' **before **you try to pet them. And don't just whistle or make clicking noises at them if you want them to come to you; they're proud birds and a lot smarter than you might think." she told him, laughing at his wary expression while he held his hand. "Try again." she told him and held out her wrist, which Lithe flew down onto.

"Umm, I'm think I'll pass, thanks." he said back still holding his hand and looking warily at Lithe who was looking at him intently now.

"Do it. You're gonna be traveling with her for a long time so you need to get used to her now. You also need learn not to panic when this happens as well." she told him, holding her wrist and Lithe closer to him.

"Fine. But if she gets my hand then I blame you for making me do it." he said looking at Serenity with a frown. "H-hey Lithe." he said hesitantly and slowly moved his hand towards Lithe's back. She squawked, causing him to jerk his hand back but Serenity caught it and put it on Lithe's back. He didn't move for a moment and then began to cautiously stroke Lithe but then began to grow in confidence and smiled. Then all of a sudden Sirus flew down and landed on Will's shoulder, causing him to cry out in surprise, throwing Sirus off his shoulder. Sirus seemed unfazed by this reaction and flew up to land on Serenity's shoulder.

"Whaa! What in the?!" Will yelled after he had recovered slightly and then saw Serenity laughing and patting Sirus's chest. Will noticed that even Lithe and Sirus seemed to be laughing along with Serenity.

"Oh Will, you should have seen yourself, that was priceless!" Serenity laughed. "It looks like you have Sirus's approval, well done." she praised him, slapping him on the back with her free hand.

"Ha ha, very funny." Will said sarcastically. "And what would have happened if I didn't get his approval?" he asked, becoming slightly worried.

"You'd be short an ear." she replied back quickly and then looked past him to Darla who was walking back out with Will's bag.

"Oh joy." he mumbled in a both relieved and frightened tone but then shook it off and turned to his mother. "Thanks mom, I don't know how I'll survive without you out there." he said, looking at Serenity when he said this and giving her an, 'I know what I already said' look before she could get him for what he had told her earlier.

"I'm sure that you'll be okay, Serenity will be out there to help you if you need it." she said, smiling and handing him his bag. It was at that moment that both Lithe and Sirus gave startled and warning squawks and shot up into the sky.

"Huh, what was that for?" Will asked with an extremely confused expression on both his and Darla's faces.

"Everybody, get inside, now." Serenity said in a commanding tone as she stared at the sky strait behind them.

"Why do you want us to go inside? Aren't we supposed to be leaving now? And what are you staring at?" Will asked and then turned around and froze as he saw what she was staring at; a dark ominous cloud had begun to form on the horizon and was approaching incredibly quickly.

"Don't question me boy, just get yourself and Darla inside the house. NOW!!!" she yelled at him and he grabbed his mother's arm and dragged her back into the house as a look of terror crossed her face at the sight of the approaching clouds. "Lithe! Sirus! Where are you?! Come here immediately!!" she cried out and then began to run towards the house. She was about half way there when Will burst back out to try and help her, but buy the time he had run that short ways to her, the cloud was upon them. Its black, boiling mass blotted out the sun, casting a shadow over them darker than any night; its winds whipping around them causing the trees to bend and shriek like animals being ripped apart buy a pack of ravenous Sevlows. And then it descended from the sky, crashing down on them with incredible force that shattered anything that was not flat around them, but they remained upright.

"What is this!?" Will shouted over the sound of the swirling, shrieking wind.

"How should I know?!?" Serenity yelled back. It was then that it began to get bitterly cold and they both watched in horror as the swirling mass of cloud that had surrounded them fell back slightly like an animal ready to pounce on its prey and rip it to sheds. In the split second that it took to recoil and slam back in, Serenity was over beside Will and was hugging him, attempting to shield him as much as she possibly could. Then everything stopped, the winds disappeared and so did the clouds. Both Will and Serenity just stood there, braced for impact, for a time and then opened their eyes and stared in amazement. They were standing in a dome of the clearest ice they had ever seen, the sun was shining through it creating beautiful patterns on the floor.

"Where are we and what happened to the clouds?" Will asked, looking at Serenity who then realized that she was still holding on to Will and immediately let go and putting some space between them.

"You are in my protective spell barrier." a woman's voice responded from behind them. They both spun around to face a rather tall woman, with long, bleach white hair, chilling ice-blue eyes, and pale skin wearing a long white robe with swirling designs on it that matched her eyes in color.

"You........" Serenity said bitterly and trailed off.

"Do you know her Serenity?" Will asked in a shocked and confused voice.

"I've only seen her once, and that was in a dream I had before I woke up in your house. But it was only a dream, full of lies." Serenity spat.

"Was this person who looked like me given a name in this lying dream?" the woman asked in a curious voice but the sound of it chilled Will to the bone.

"Her name was Saya and she was speaking to my parents about training or something." Serenity replied, her voice becoming thick with anger and hatred as she said this.

"Then your dream was not all a lie, for my name is Saya. My formal title is Saya of the Ice Clan, only daughter of the Great Wizard Jonin, last member of the Light Clan. However, as for the rest of the dream, its truth is to be highly doubted." Saya said back in a cool voice.

"Why are you here? What do you want? What was that before with the wind and clouds?" Will began to ask the questions on after another.

"Peace and have patience William Jay Millin. I will answer your questions in due time." Saya said, putting a hand up to stop him.

"How-" he began but Serenity caught him by the arm and shook her head.

"The wind and clouds that descended upon you just now was the rage of an evil soldier, loyal to Him. He has been following me so that he might slay me as his master did my father. But have no fear William Jay Millin and Serenity Sarah Crest, we are safe within this dome and the soldier has no desire to do harm unto the one you know as Darla Marie Millin. His orders are to bring my head back to his master's castle and he obeys it without thought or question and will not stop till the deed is done." she told them in a cold voice as she walked over to lay a hand on the icy wall. "As for why I am here and what I want, I can only tell you what I have been told in a dream and by my father." she said, looking at them with her hand still touching the wall of ice.

"Well what is it?" Serenity asked impatiently, it was clear by the tone in her voice that she both did not like Saya and did not want to hear what she was going to say.

"Before my father was slaughtered by the blade of His sword, he had a vision that, if the events it foretold came to pass, changes the likes of which have not been seen since The Great Divide would occur. In this vision he saw the coming of two beings, both human in origin, not Wizard or beast. One of these beings was called the Shinji, this person was destined to find and collect the seven shards of the Eien Suishou, a crystal of immeasurable power that was once possessed by the great Arrancar but now and has for many millennia remained his eternal prison. The other one was called the Bakai, this person would be the one to reunite the seven crystal shards and release Arrancar so that he might end his younger brother's tyranny and bring peace and balance back to Shinma. It was this vision that led to my father's murder by His sword so as to send the rest of the Wizards a message that he would never be defeated and his brother would never be resurrected." she told them, seeming to stare off into space as she said these words. "But my dream is why I am here, for in this dream I saw a young man and a young woman whose companions where two birds of prey. For the longest time I knew nothing of who they were or where they were, but in a more recent dream, my questions were answered. The names of both the man and woman, as well as the town were revealed to me and it is because of that, that I stand here before you now." she told them and walked over to stand in front of them.

"That's all very nice and well but I still don't see why you are here speaking to us." Serenity said rather rudely, her impatience had reached a very tangible level in her posture and tone.

"I am here to bestow unto you and your friend a quest that will change this world in ways that you can not imagine. All that I have just told you about the prophecy, this is your destiny, a broken destiny, one that will change the past, present, and future of yours and every other being's future. It is your destiny and choices that now carry the hope and prospect of peace of every last man or beast on this planet. You must find the shards in each guardians resting place and then bring them to the Bakai so that they might reunite and resurrect the fallen Arrancar. I cannot make you do this task, that is not my place, I am only the messenger who brings the task, it is up to you to choose. My work here is done and now I must return to my own place, the pieces are set, how will you move?" Saya said, looking both of them in the eye and then disappearing along with the dome of ice but her words still lingered in their minds and they stared at each other.

"William!? Serenity?! Oh my god! Are you two okay?! All I saw was that horrible cloud swallow you two up and then it disappeared. What happened?" Darla asked frantically, running out of the house towards them.

"We're fine mom but things just got a little more complicated." Will responded but never looking away from Serenity.

"Complicated? What do you mean?" she asked quizzically.

"Nothing Darla. Besides we're way overdue for leaving and we've got a looooong way ahead of us." Serenity said nodding slightly at Will. "Are you in?" she asked him.

"I'm in." he responded.

"Then we're golden and off. Bye Darla, we have to be going." she said and walked off towards the forest edge, waving as she went.

"Bye mom, I'll miss you." Will said, hugging his mom, picking up his bag and then following Serenity.

"Bye William, please stay safe and most importantly, come back alive!" she called after them, beginning to cry.

"So I guess this is it, the fate of the entire world rests on our shoulders." Serenity said as she just stood and looked into the foliage of the valley.

"Yeah, I guess it is." Will said, walking up to stand beside her. "I don't feel any different."

"You never do." Serenity sighed as both she and Will plunged into the forest of the valley.

* * *

Okey dokey! I am done with this one and it's less words than the last one so I'm real happy about that because I been trying to shorten the word count for a while and I've been failing miserably so I'm happy about this. Anyway, I've finally gotten to the part where they start the quest for the broken shards, yay! It only took 6 chapters, almost not yay! Yeah, um, okay, so this is the seventh chapter, I hope that you liked it and please read and review. :D


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